Ok, seriously? I left a cooler full of snow in my dining room yesterday, left it there all day while I was gone, and came back to a dirty hunk of snow in the bottom of an empty cooler. Why do I even try?

Day 3 of no water. I hid out at my parents for the day yesterday. Being here alone just makes me anxious and frustrated. So I left and relaxed with family, and I even got a shower! When I arrived home, it was later in the evening, maybe 11pm-ish. We saw no work crews or work trucks anywhere. A section of one road was barricaded off but that was about the extent of it. We found a phone message on our machine regarding the present situation. It said things like “sorry about this little hassle” and “please be patient.” Another thing they said was that they think they know where the leak is now, but unfortunately they dug up on the wrong spot, so they need to fill it in and dig again. The earliest we’ll see water in Wednesday. Just our street.

So that being said, prepare for at least one more boring, pessimistic post like this. I apologize to those of you who normally appreciate a light-hearted family post. Just sooo not in the mood to fake the way I feel these days.

Sigh.

Still no water. I literally have resorted to melting snow in an effort to make enough water to flush my toilets, and to boil and use for everyday things. Not not too many positive things to say, so I’ll keep today’s post short.

We found out last night that most of the town had their water back by yesterday afternoon. A friend inquired on our community Facebook page about whether or not the workers were aware some were still without water. A fair question, you would think. Well, it got kind of loud from there on out. I wonder, if roles were reversed, if those people with the rudest comments didn’t have water, what they would say. But instead, those of us who can’t even flush our toilets are apparently implying that no one knows how to do their jobs, and are wildly impatient.

Mom, if this continues, we’re moving in with you.

Sorry I am not a profane person. But I am today.

This was a large weekend for me. I’ve known it was going to be enormous for quite some time and if I’m being completely honest, the anticipation I held for it wasn’t always positive. A lot of what we had scheduled was good stuff, but there was just so much of it. I worked myself into quite an anxious state gearing up for this very weekend.

I’m realizing that I skipped a big detail of my weekend in my posts. On Friday, after being away all evening listening to a friend play music in a coffee shop, we almost missed our turn off the highway into our town. Everything was black. We had no power. In -30 weather. It was out for a couple of hours, just long enough to really cool our house off. Not my favorite evening.

Now, today was busy as well. I was sleeping by 3am and woke a few times in the night. Church was good but very busy, and I was exhausted afterwards. I brought a few crocheting projects to work on in the afternoon and got one band of one slouchy toque completed. Yup, that is it. I was tired to the point of almost dozing off on the couch, which I never do! We usually stay at my parents place pretty late into the evening and play cards, have dessert, and relax. We packed up and left early so we could put Dekker (and ourselves) to bed early. You know what welcomed us home? Not water, thats for sure! No, I’m not talking about the boil water advisory, thats still on and likely will be for, I dunno, another month or two? I mean there was no water. Not even a sputter. Apparently a water main broke about, oh, 9 hours ago now. We drove by the water plant, and know what we saw? No one. No lights on, no people, nothing.

I emptied out a milk jug, but I can’t rinse it. I can’t flush the toilet. Well, I may have one flush per toilet, but then its over. Worst of all, no bath. At least we have a jug of drinking water!

So today, I am tired, and openly pessimistic. Today, I hate it here. I hate my town, and I hate our house, and I hate winter. I don’t see any silver lining on any stupid clouds.

It has been a long day.

Only one more day of this insane weekend left! Its been a good time, but crazy hectic, and I’ll be happy to be at home a bit more next week *knock on wood.* Trust me, I wouldn’t be writing my post for December 8th at 1:30am on the 9th if I didn’t have to!

We spent another afternoon in the city, trying desperately to clean up the loose ends of our Christmas shopping. I have one more thing to buy for Brady, and I’m thinking a couple more things for Dekker. But then it is over and I can get to wrapping and ribboning, and putting under our hypothetically decorated tree. Something to look forward to anyway. New wrapping paper helps too.

We had a Christmas gathering today. We do one every year with my parents, any siblings that can make it, and all of our cousins in the area from my dads side of the family. We always eat so well, and spend the rest of the evening watching the kids antics in the living room. This year was pretty close to the same. We ate like royalty, of course. I made my first ever broccoli salad and I have to say it was pretty much amazing. Lots of bacon bits, sunflower seeds and raisins made it delicious. And do you know what the white-ish dressing is that is on all those salads? Mayo, vinegar, and white sugar. Sounds vile, I know, but it works! It surprised me too. It was yummy. Besides that was another salad, plus turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, and waaay too many amazing desserts, once of them a fudgie Skor-chip trifle thing. Way too good. We drank pineapple punch. In. Credible.

Dekker was a hit, which was really nice. He was much younger a year ago (duh) and less engaging and involved. However, he ate like a horse at the table, and then played toys and made friends. So proud of my little boy.

Now everyone is gone and we’ve decided to spend the night at my parents, as we need to be at church at crazy o’clock in the morning. I’m feeling sooo disorganized in my music and I have to play for a Christmas program practice and lead worship in church. However, my mom sat with me at the piano for about an hour and helped me figure out chords and transpose a few songs until I was happy and comfortable with them. Thank God for you, mom! I will hopefully wind down soon and fall asleep. I’m definitely happy to be closer to church here. Might even have to move here one day 😉

Now if you’ll excuse me, there are Ritz crackers and a warm bed calling my name.

We completed another small chunk of Christmas shopping yesterday and I’m feeling pretty good about it. I often second guess the gifts  we give but so far I think I’m pretty happy with the decisions we’ve made. However, I am realizing that time is catching up to me and I need to finish up here soon! I also need to send out the things I’ve crocheted that people want to give as gifts. I have a stack of finished projects and I keep forgetting to mail them out!!! I think I’ll go hijack someone’s Purolator capabilities…

I still need to buy for Brady, but I have a decent idea of what I’m getting him. We are totally stumped for Dekker though. No idea!!! We’re gonna take Saturday and just peruse the stores and see what we come across. Our son is so blessed to have more than he needs already, but it sticks us with trying to figure out what the heck to get him!!! I’m almost tempted to just take some of the things we’ve bought him in the past but haven’t actually pulled out for him and just wrap them up, haha! That might classify me as a terrible parent.

Other than my boys, I just need to decide a few things. All my friends with babies. I’ve bought for the couple, but do I buy for each baby? I don’t know the rules there, and there were considerably less babies last Christmas! We’re on a bit more of a budget this year than we’d like, and even our friends are getting smaller gifts, so maybe the babies are left out this year 🙁 Hopefully our friends still love us.

Maybe once shopping is done, my car can relax. Poor Stella goes to the city pretty much every day, and neither she, nor I, nor Dekker are super pumped about that. This is the busiest weekend of the month (so far) so maybe things will relax a little. I know, its not normal for life to slow down as Christmas gets closer, but at least maybe I’ll be home, wrapping gifts, baking, tidying, getting ready. Maybe one day we’ll even have time to decorate our tree! We’ve just been so busy and haven’t wanted to rush the process, you know? It should be fun! Maybe…Monday?

Tonight though, I am off the Christmas shopping bandwagon and will hopefully find some time to relax and have coffee and banana bread with my boys, while listening to a friend perform music from his EP and hopefully some new stuff I haven’t heard yet.  Looking forward to it! Anyone wanna join?

http://www.poornamelessboy.com/

Before I get to my post, can I just ask who my American readers are? I am in touch with all of one person from the states, yet I get a few regular views. So I’d love to know! No pressure, just curious 🙂

So, the title is “Hop to it,” meaning I’m back to reality. However, I think I’ve had at least two posts already called “Back to Reality” so I figured I’d switch it up.

I got through the rest of the day yesterday no problem. I guess it was really starting to snow like mad in the city so Brady came home mid-afternoon to make sure he could actually get home, so instead of waiting for him until 6pm or later, he was home before 4. YAY! We had chicken strips, corn, and mashed potatoes for supper, which was sooooo delicious! I was still completely starving from barely eating the other day, but a little nervous about what I would eat. I didn’t want to piss anything off and start throwing up again. But mashed potatoes never hurt anyone! Yum! I slept well.

I need to get Deks up a little early today I think. I know, its already after 10am. But he was talking a minute ago and now he’s quiet again, so I should catch him! I’d like him to get up, eat, nap, and then be able to eat again before we go. I’m taking him into the city for a quick trip. We have a few more Christmas presents I’m eager to purchase, for one thing. I was going to buy some Christmas Blend coffee from Starbucks but just learned that its on an awesome sale tomorrow. So I guess that is crossed of my list for the day and added to Brady’s list for tomorrow. Oh well. But also, something much more exciting is happening today!

Brady and I have dreams of building a house. We really hope the dream is not too far away. In the next couple of years anyway. We have had our ideal floorplan in mind for well over a year, and Brady is currently FINALLY working on a house that is almost identical!!!!! I can finally see the sizes of the rooms, which is what I’ve been waiting for. I understand dimensions, but I want to be in the room and get a feel for it. I’m really looking forward to it 🙂 For the record, no, normally I wouldn’t be allowed into a house in mid-construction, but as a potential home buyer, I am.

After our quick city trip, we’ll hear to my parents for supper and then music practice for Sunday. I also am playing for the Sunday School Christmas program this year so hopefully I’ll get some practicing in for that as well! I’m feeling a little behind but I think a solid practice or two and I’ll feel back up on my game.

Should be a good day. No crazy deadlines really, and a few good things to look forward to. I think my tummy is even settled enough for a small cup of coffee this morning. Yum!

I’m feeling considerably better today. I was pretty out of it all day yesterday, but I can see now that a lot of that was from not sleeping the night before. I had a lukewarm/cool bath in the evening, which actually woke me up just a little, enough to watch a show and stay awake past 9pm. But I fell asleep well and slept until about 9:45, which was awesome!! So I say again, I feel way better today.

I’m not at 100% yet, by any means. From throwing up so much yesterday, my neck is absolutely killing me. Also, my throat is quite sore, both from puking and the pre-existing cold from a few days before I got sick. However, both of those things I can handle. I took a couple of Advils as son as I realized how stiff my neck was. However, I could tell for about 45 minutes that they weren’t all the way down. Finally, after bread, broth, and water, I got them down. Dekker had breakfast (lunch, really) and played downstairs. I’m not quite in the “crawling around the floor” kind of mood today so he brought his toys over and played in my lap. He lasted less than an hour and is now back in bed.

I will likely spend any downtime today catching up on my crocheting while stretched out in front of the tv. Don’t judge please. Yesterday, I felt like I had been hit by a bus. Maybe I don’t feel that way today, but I feel like I was hit by a bus yesterday! Still counts.

I blogged yesterday about what an awesome day our family had Christmas shopping in the city. We got tons done, made cookies in the evening, and had general success all around. And then, there was night. I don’t suggest the squeamish read any further.

I felt sick to my stomach before bed. I took some gravol to settle my tummy and help me get to sleep. I never slept. All night. Not one wink. From about 2am to 8am, I was up every two hours barfing uncontrollably. I am NOT a toilet barfer, for the record. Barfing is gross enough without having my head in a toilet. I had time to grab an old ice cream pail before I ran to the bathroom to toss my cookies. Four times. Ok, this is already gross, I know, but you know the worst part of barfing? Not the burn in your throat, or the weakness you feel afterwards, or the lack of breathing. I hate the disgusting pieces that I can’t spit out, that just float around in my mouth, caught in all the slime. Sooo vile! Yes, obviously I grabbed some Kleenex on my way over and took care of them, but they definitely were my least favorite part of the whole experience.

Luckily, Brady slept through everything. I’m in trouble now because he always wants to help me when I’m sick, and I appreciate it! But it was just sooo gross, I couldn’t have it. However, my dear husband is taking another day off of work to help me. My body is absolutely aching from retching my brains out, and there is no way I can stand for more than a minute or two, much less hold and play with Dekker. So it appears I will be spending today in bed.

I already feel a decent amount better. I can tell the wild cramps have moved down now, so at least they’ll attack at a different angle (sorry, gross, I know) and the crazy grumbling that happened every single time I moved because my bowels were sooo angry has subsided. I feel like I definitely had/have food poisoning, but Brady and I ate all the same things yesterday and he’s in perfect health. Who knows.

It is disappointing to end such an amazing day with a cruddy night like this. But with Brady home, I can nap on and off throughout the day and have no real baby responsibilities.

As I lay in my bed, and my boys play downstairs, I miss them terribly. Sick days are the worst.

Let me be clear. I was not “loaded” – as in drunk – today. It was just a completely full and awesome day. Unfortunately I won’t be able to write in too much detail considering that we Christmas shopped all afternoon. But I’ll try.

Brady and I woke up really late to tons of snow. Because of that, we decided to be lazy for a while before he went outside to clear our driveway. A loving neighbour and friend came to lend a hand, and it was over quickly. We added Dekker to the mix, had breakfast with him, and headed to the city. The roads were not even close to as bad as everyone was saying they were, which was a huge relief. Sure, city residential sucked, but the main roads were fine and the highways were perfect. We knew our time was limited to accomplish a lot of gift buying since we had plans in the evening, so we could be in the city from 1 at the earliest to 6 at the latest. We got everything except a few little things and then the gifts for our one little family. But we bought for almost everyone else, and for those we haven’t bought for, we know what we will buy them. We are almost awkwardly organized.

A few notables of the grand shop: That time when when I spilled an entire large root beer on my pants. Awesome.Everyone was staring at me. So I commented something along the lines of “This is the part where you guys cheer so I feel less awkward,” and they did. Situation saved! My pants dried by the time we were done eating. I was sticky, but I didn’t look like I had peed myself.

Another notable experience was in Lush. Business was slow for them, being that it was mid-afternoon on a weekday, and my goodness! Dekker had an audience. They completely loved him! We bought a few things, and with our purchases they threw in a bath bomb meant for babies, and lots of samples! I left feeling pretty special. Not every store says things like “Bring him through here again!” about kids.

We also jumped into the Telus store while we were in the mall. I got my first iPhone last week and unfortunately it is a bit temperamental. Nothing serious, but quite a few little things that tell me something just isn’t quite right. So I went in to talk to the sales people. They did one little thing to it, and I’ll know in a day or two if its still glitching, and if it is, they said I can bring it back and get an entirely new phone! They listened and understood and didn’t act like we were whiney customers. I hate complaining at a store so I appreciate when the staff understand. I also confirmed that the insurance I bought was upgraded in the last five months and does in fact cover water damage, aka Dekker throwing my phone in the toilet. Yay!

We made it home around 6:40, which was perfect! We had a guest scheduled to come over for 7:30 and I had defrosted some sugar cookie dough I made last week in advance so we whipped up a quick batch of cookies. Just a sidenote, there is really something to be said for freezing dough in a roll and slicing it up when its still partially frozen. Amazing results, very pretty cookies. Our guest arrived on time, we had a great visit, made some decisions, and now he has left and we have our bubble bath running.

So our day was very full. All three of us have colds, and felt pretty awful first thing in the morning, but our day together getting things done was a beautiful distraction. I’m feeling so very accomplished! However, being the end of the day, I’m starting to get all stuffed up again, and I just realized I’m still in my root beer jeans. It has been a long day.

SUCH a great day 🙂

You know how I often say that Sunday is a day of fun, family, and food? Today, it wasn’t. I mean, there was fun, and family, and food. So I suppose it was. But it felt high stress all day.

The church service went well. Neither Brady or I were up on stage so we actually got to sit beside each other for the first part of the service. Dekker was sleeping, or at least we thought, until another mom went into the back nursery area and said he was talking quite a bit. I checked on him, and he wreaked. So that was over, and I spent the second half of the service in the room while he played.

I think the reason the day felt stressful was because I’m having a bad attitude about the week to come. I will be relatively busy, and the weekend will be especially loaded. Included in next weekends busyness is leading worship. I’m more than happy to do it, but it takes effort, and I felt like it would be too ominous to do during the week. So after lunch and a few rounds of cards, we all chose songs, and my mom and I ran to the church to run music off for everyone involved. Right before our drive to the church, weather hit. WILD snow and wind. I am freezing just thinking about it. It took quite a while to find all the right keys of the music, and to transpose the songs with keys we just didn’t like. We dropped off the music and drove home, just in time to munch down a quick supper and get Brady, Dekker and I back on the road and on our way home before we couldn’t make it. Luckily the highways were clear-ish. Lots of drifts but no real ice to be nervous about.

So we survived. Lots of planning and preparing, and waaay less crocheting than I was hoping to get done, but priorities were chosen and I’m happy that music is taken care of for the moment.

Now onto a week of meetings, practicing, decorating, cleaning, baking, crocheting, shopping, mailing, and everything else under the sun. Good night.