Northern Mom

About the take the Tar Paper off
Almost time to knock the wall down
Bracing from the inside Almost level and ready Done!

I'm hoping to get into a routine one of these days, to properly email, read and respond to blogs and just have 10 minutes of peace to myself. Hubby is working very late tomorrow night, so I'm on my own.

Here are some weekend pics!

Is it just me or does she look about 12 in this picture? She's on top of the step ladder!

She has no fear either!
Happy Monday

This picture is the finished floor looking into the kitchen from the dining area. The border pattern continues to the door. Hubby had a bunch of pieces of Marmoleum left over from a few different jobs so instead of wasting this was the result.

I'm sure that there will be lots of work this fall with the basement being added. It will become their retirement home and will sell the house here in the city. It's a great place to go anytime of the year.

I bought 3 tickets to see Dora at the end of June yesterday. I haven't told Jo yet that we are going. I don't think she will understand having to wait 71 sleeps until the show. I bought an extra ticket for Kelsey and if she thinks I'm going to divulge the price of the tickets she came to the wrong blog. I managed to get 2nd row seats to the left of the stage. Platinum is what they were called. I'm hoping that Jo enjoys it!

Hubby went to price windows yesterday. I'll be meeting him later today to have a look at them and decide if the door he picked will be the one we will get. The door is at the top of the basement steps and I find the stairway so dark and dreary that I want a door that lets in a lot of light. The door that he picked is almost all window with the blinds built right into the window. I was leaning more towards one that had the frosted window panes. They both have pros and cons. The one with the frosted glass gives us privacy, but the one with the blinds will give us more light. The windows are almost a no brainer. I really wanted a bay window in my kitchen over the sink. I don't think that's going to happen. To replace the same size window is about $200.00 and to order a bay window is almost 1000.00 and we have to build a roof for it. Can you guess which window I'm getting?

Speaking of money. The gas in our part of Northern Ontario hit 111.9 yesterday. Just before the long weekend it went to 106.9 and was down to 104.5 yesterday afternoon. I have less than half a tank. Figures. It is rumoured that we can expect to pay up to 149/litre by mid summer. If I get back to work I just might consider picking up a little car to boot around in. But I suppose by the time I pay the insurance I won't be much further ahead.

My dog has finally decided to shed her winter coat. It's driving me insane. We have a Siberian Husky. The fur flying around this house is insane. She hates to be brushed or combed but I think I'm going to have to take the comb to her anyways. The fur is falling out in clumps. She's a beautiful dog but once she is gone there will be no more dogs for us. There are too many places we can't take her. We used to take her to camp but she little dogs are a snack for her and we just don't take the chance anymore. Here is a picture of her from a few years ago at camp. She will be 9 in June. We were really worried about her when Jo came home. She actually adjusted really well and tolerates Jo amazingly. She's a great dog for the most part.

As of the weekend the snow in our yard is officially gone. While driving out to camp on Saturday we drove by one of the golf courses and there is still snow is places and there were people out playing. I like to golf, and lose enough balls without adding snow to the mix. White balls are tough to find in the snow. I do love to golf in the spring. No black flies or mosquitos yet and when your ball strays from the fairway it's easier to find before everything has started to grow.

Jo came home from Daycare yesterday smelling just like summer! Sunscreen season has started for us. I was playing with her on her swings and I gave her a push that sent her flying and landing on her back on the ground. I picked her up and felt like a shit for hurting her. Between the sobs she told me to put her back on the swing and go higher mommy. Right back on the horse. I think I'm in really big trouble with this child. She has no concept of fear.

Last week Dani and this week Silver Creek Mom both posted about the prefix of Mrs. and Ms., family names and changing them when married. There are days that it bothers me that my Visa says Mrs followed by my name and then married name. When I married my first husband I took his name and within a month of breaking up I was back to my original name. When hubby and I were getting married he was adamant about me changing it. I changed it. Looking back I suppose I could have fought the point. I'm just glad that we are past the days of being Mrs. Hubby's entire name. My ex MIL had been a member of the Girl Guides for years and years and they could never find her membership. She had registered under her husband's name as Mrs His first and last name. Years ago I met a man who had a french/spanish hyphenated name and he and his wife combined both of their names. I don't think I'd like to lose my total identity. I have a perfectly good first name to use. If ever find myself in the same position that I was in when my first marriage ended I will be returning to the name I was born with.

Step Dad is coming home today. It will be a long recovery I think and hopefully this will help to add a little more to his life. All will depend on bloodwork and the speed at which the cancer decides to travel. We're still not sure if Chemo will be an option. I'm still very concerned about my mom. It's going to be a long road for all of us. On the weekend my cousin gave me a "Thingamaboob". It really puts the whole cancer thing into perspective. The size of the beads represent the different size of of lumps found in the breast at different points of examinations. Time to start being a little more aware.

I did call yesterday and make an appt with my Dr to have a few things addressed. I think getting back to work will make a big difference and I'll talk to him about changing meds and see what happens from there. It's not until May 9th. I'll hang in until then. I might even consider increasing my dose. I'm at the low end of the dosing so maybe addding one pill a day might help. The one think my Dr is great for is giving me some options where the amounts are concerned. He starts me at the lowest and then has me increase on my own as needed. I should have thouht of this sooner. Maybe some day I'll learn to recognize the highs and lows and know when I'm starting to sink. I think starting today I'll try that and then maybe the extra will have kicked in by the time I see him in May. There is nothing worse than switching depression meds. It normally takes 3 to 6 weeks to see any effect, so when you change there is a 3 month window where things are really up and down.

It's supposed to hit a high of 20C today. Time to shave my legs and maybe break out a pair of capris and start my day!

Good day to all

We had a great Easter Morning! At 630am Jo was in our room so excited because The Easter Bunny left her some eggs. I opened my eyes and told her to look in her room to see if the Easter Bunny left her a basket and maybe there were more eggs hidden. She was all over the living room looking for them. They were pretty easy to find and she didn't realize that there was a bunch of goodies to go with the eggs.

She spent the better part of an hour riding the bike outside. It took all of about 3 minutes for her to figure it all out. She cam in a slept for 3 hours. I can't decided if it was the bike riding or the chocolate she ate for breakfast that brought on the huge nap! Her Uncle raked the driveway so that it would be in great shape for a bike ride. It will be much nicer when we get it paved. She even took the bike to my dad's for supper and rode it the whole time there. Her cousins took off on their bikes and she tried to keep up. She tried so hard, but they are 10 and their bikes go a little faster.

Today was a great day weather wise. We were out this morning and played with the girls across the street, had a nap and we were back out again. It's nice when there are other kids to play with. No school is a nice thing somedays.

My friend that I wrote about last week is handling things some what well. She said that if she doesn't think about it then it's not so bad. The kids don't know and they are really trying to keep it that way. She and her siblings went to see him on the weekend and sounded like a rough time. We don't really talk about it unless she brings it up. I did call her and told her that we are here for her for whatever reason and that what happened is no reflection of her.

I did get some good news! A friend of mine who after 3 years of TTC (trying to conceive), countless IUI's found out that her first IVF was successful! Her embryo quality was amazing. One of her embryo's was at the morula stage at day 3! They were able to freeze 2 more that made it past the blastocyst stage at day 5. I haven't talked to her yet to find out her HCG levels. I do know however that it is indeed a positive and am only thinking positive thoughts. She has had 2 early miscarriages. I am hoping that this will be a wonderful Christmas for her!

Hmmm what else?

Did I mention that we had a wet basement this weekend too. A few times since we've owned the house we have had water in the front corner. Hubby took the drywall out at one point to see where it was coming from and never found it. We just left it and didn't have water again....until Wednesday night. Of course the snow is gone, so where did the water come from? Hubby again took the drywall out and went so far as to take the studs out where he could see the water running. It looks like the previous owners decided to move the water meter and cut the pipe, but never capped it. It has been covered for the time being and once my brother moves out we will fix it properly and put the water mystery to rest. I'm almost scared to start these renos. We have a plug in the kitchen that only half of worked. It didn't take long to figure out that if the dryer and the fridge were running at the same time we blew a fuse. The wiring for the dryer is scary. There is 110 from one plug and another 110 from the plug behind the fridge to run the dryer. If that's the kind of wiring, I wonder what else we'll find once we really get going.

I've been feeling pretty tired lately. Not sure if it's the change of seasons or that I am becoming immuned to my meds again. I've been on these one for the longest time and I fear it's time to have them changed. I'm running out of options. I suffer from depression and the list of meds that don't work anymore is longer that this list of those that I can try. I think too that not being at work is taking a toll as well. I guess it's time to make a Dr's appt and get a whole work up done.

I'm off for the night!

Olivia arrived shortly after 2am yesterday morning. Jo is so excited that she has a new baby cousin! I do feel badly for my step sister. Her water broke at 530am on Monday morning and I don't have all the details except that a c-section happened almost 24 hours later. My step mom was telling me how hard it was. That I can only imagine. All is well and she weighed in at 9 pounds and 9 ounces. I don't know much more than that. Hubby was home early yesterday and I was very tempted to go and visit, but decided to wait until today. I'll tell you more about her when I get to meet her in person!

Did I tell you that my brother finally got an apartment. His very own apartment. It stills seems surreal. He moved in here about 4 years ago and it was supposed to be temporary. We told him back in 2003 that when we did our last IVF that he had to move out if it worked. It didn't so he was content to just stay. He moved between here and my sister's place for a while and now he is finally going. It's not that I don't love my brother and he is a great help with Jo most of the time, but we need the space. Especially now with our renos soon to start. May 1st is the moving day. I will soon have a room to set up my computer and sewing machine and not have things all over the basement. I can't wait!

It's snowing here again today. Just when we were starting to see the grass it's covered again. Mother nature just seems to tease up into thinking that we can put the winter stuff away and then we get more. I sent Jo to daycare this morning with her snow pants instead of just her splash pants. Maybe that's why I am feeling so tired. The ups and downs of spring.

We go tomorrow and sign for the new mortgage. I think the porch idea on the back of the house is history. Hubby talked to a contractor yesterday and in order to add it on we have to dig down to the original footing of the house and build up from there. There is another way, but both are going to be expensive and will eat up close to a third of the budget. I am however excited at the prospect of putting in a new furnace. I mentioned adding air conditioning at the same time and hubby said we didn't need it and he has now changed his mind. Most of the summer we can get by ok without it, but if we have more summers like we had last year it will be well worth the extra money.

I'm off for this morning.

Good day to all