at this minute

I am the only person up and awake in my new house.  That is a gift. 

I am sitting on a make shift "couch" of two big pillows.  I'm in the living room.  Bosco is nearby, b/c he's always nearby.  It is perfectly quiet and peaceful.

The movers are coming today around 8:30/9:00 to unload our furniture and a few more boxes (and our bedding). 

We accomplished a lot yesterday.
- 2 of 3 bathroom scrubbed
- kitchen scrubbed (and my mom did it, so I mean SCRUBBED)
- two pantries created out of wasted space closets (thanks Dad)
- 47 earring purchased (courtesy of Uncle Britt and Maddie on a shopping trip)
- family room walls washed (that sounds easy but bead board is groovy, man.  And grooves looooove dirt)
- and we had TAKE OUT!  Because WE CAN!

My body hurts, but I'm ready to go again today. 

I can't believe how amazing those movers are.  I have to tell you.  They shocked me.  They pulled that giant couch out of the basement like it was nothing.  The one guy was basically the strongest man I've ever met, and so good at his job - he just eyeballed how the couch needed to go and TADAA, it was out.  (Did I mention we put that couch in the basement and then built around it??)

ok, time for cereal.  If we unpack the camera I'll post some pictures...

But shout out to some fantastic companies:

S.A.F.E. Saskatoon - amazing service
Geransky Movers - worth every penny
FrogBox - they deliver these huge green boxes, then pick them up when you're done. No begging at liquor stores for boxes required
Freaky Clean - for coming to Saskatoon to clean (they usually only do Warman homes)

later skater
j

same boxes. different house.

Movers arrived at 9:00 - by 12:30 our house was EMPTY. They dropped off mattresses for us, but not bedding. That is truly the only snag though - otherwise they were just fantastic.

Kitchen is cleaned (FINALLY). Thanks Mom. Dad has finished building shelves in two closets (thanks Dad). I'm washing walls and mom is unpacking the kitchen.

And we're exhausted.

calm before the storm

I feel like that must be what this is.  I think we are ready, or sort of ready.  As ready as we can be and still live in the house.  The fridge is basically empty, the cupboards are bare.  We have a few dishes.  It's kind of a holding pattern.

We are accidentally doing the move in two stages.  We get possession of the house on Wednesday at noon.  We have this storage been that has been sitting in our driveway since November. Can you say "eye sore"?  Anyway, that thing is some kind of bottomless pit.  In the end it held about 80% of all of our boxes.  Great.  Except the movers don't unload until Saturday.  They would unload it for, but that will mean it will be in the way.  In the way of all of our heavy furniture and our giant eleventy billion pound piano.  So we are going to unload that damn bin on Wednesday night and the "bin people" (wonderful people really, the company is called S.A.F.E. Storage and I would recommend them to ANYONE).  Anyway they will come and get the bin on Thursday.  Freeing up space for the moving truck for Saturday.

Membah how I said "we" are unloading it?  Once again, I find myself surrounded by wonderful people.  Steph says you reap what you sow, but I still call myself just plain lucky to have amazing friends who would come out on a winter evening (hells yes, it's STILL winter here) and unload our bin.  All with the promise of my unending love and some crappy pizza.  Good people. 

In other news:
Bosco has basically lost his voice.  I'm not sure if there is permanent damage.  Try getting a beagle to understand the concept of vocal rest.  Not really working.

Sammy has decided her hind leg is hurt.  She is now a tripod, and the good news is she's getting faster.  She can do stairs now.  Although she prefers her food in bed.  But she did that before becoming a tripod.

Maddie's report card came home today.  Once again we are very proud of our little girl. 

There, now you're all caught up.

j

here's hoping a picture tells a 1000 words

running out of time

Yikes, it's wine o'clock on Wednesday night and I haven't tackled half of the projects I had planned.

But I have accomplished the following:

3 walks
2 trips shopping in downtown Fernie
1 nap
1 afternoon with a book on the deck in some serious sunshine
7 trips to pick up/drop off skiiers
1 episode of Glee
5 instagram pictures (and 2-3 more waiting)
1 felted owl
9 felted foxes
5 more cutouts waiting to be foxes.  (Want a fox?  Send me a self addressed stamped envelope.  I'll hook you up.)
3 blog posts


Not bad for a girl who's been sittin' around.  Doin' nothin.

Patti - here's what yours will look like. 

For Jackson's water bottle.

are you ready?

Should be (if all goes well) lots of photos on this post.

so, what have we been up to?

The kids had day two of lessons and that seemed to go really well.  Maddie and Mackenzie are in the same lessons and had their instructor to themselves this afternoon.  The same was true for Jackson I think.  The perk of off season - private ski lessons at a group rate.

I went for a long walk this morning.  It was good for me to get out and burn off some energy.  I needed to do that.  Then after lunch I hauled out a deck chair, and parked my self outside with a cup of coffee and a book.  It was fantastic.  It was so warm I spent most of the time in bare feet and a t-shirt.

Made three more foxes today.  I'll post a picture of them tomorrow.

This has been a really relaxing holiday so far.  It's been a break that we've really needed.

j

 Mackenzie - this kid is SMART.  She's amazing.  And those are St Paddy's Tattoos, btw.

 Jackson - finding the early mornings a bit tough...  He's so patient and good to the girls.  Such an awesome big brother to both of them. 

These next few are from my walk this morning.  It was quiet and peaceful.  Until I found the uphill patch.  Then there seemed to be a lot of gasping for air.

In the morning, after my walk.  I sat on the deck to listen to the rest of my podcast.  This American Life - "No Coincidence, No Story" - in case you were about to ask.  Download it.  It was a good one.

Lisa gets credit for this image, and likely some of the tracks.  I sent my camera up with her.

At the end of the day - Maddie was EXHAUSTED after ski lessons today.  They ski from 10 - 12:30 and 1:30 to 4:00.  A long day for little legs.

Fernie Fox

Here we are in Fernie. It's been snowing like crazy, but finally I don't mind.  It can snow all it wants here.

On the drive here I fell asleep someplace after Kindersley.  When I woke up everything was brown.  I was all "what the....".  Then feel asleep and woke up to a blizzard and some white knuckle driving.  It was quite the trip.

Maddie, Mackenzie, and Jackson all skied today.  It was as if there wasn't a whole year since the last time they skied.  Right away on the chair lift and making big snow plow turns.  I was amazed and proud all at once.  Oh to be made of rubber...

We are in a different cabin this year.  Plenty of room.  There are two living rooms and one has a fireplace.  Lisa and I have each staked out spots in front of the fire.  And the boys have claimed the TV in the basement (fine with me). 

I made these foxes last night.  I'm not gonna lie:  I'm quite pleased with myself.  Things I love:  real wool felt and good scissors. 

yeah. this is happening.

Dear Pinterest,

Thank you for helping me GET NOTHING DONE. 

Sincerely,
Jenn

status update

This is starting to look like it was a good weekend in terms of getting ready to move.

Kitchen is packed! 16 boxes later...And that's AFTER a pre-pack and AFTER two purges.

Lasagne is in the freezer and I'm just about done the Energy Bites (GORP) - that's thanks to Lisa. She saw how stressed I was yesterday and offered to take Maddie this afternoon and for a sleepover.

Georgia came to play yesterday which was a big help b/c Maddie loves to play with her and it was a distraction.

Wore my runners all day, but my feet are starting to hurt. Almost Wine Time!

Georgia

Morgan: Here, try this.
Georgia: (takes a bite)
Morgan: It's called an olive.

pause. wait for it.

Georgia: Oh, like Olive the Reindeer?

In 25 days

We will be living in Eastview. This will be fabulous for so many reasons. But the number one reason tonight is that our take out options will not be limited to
1. Disgusting Chinese food (local restaurant)
2. Family Pizza (not bad pizza, but really our only option)
3. Did I mention the Chinese food already?