Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Determined

My one word for 2015 is DETERMINED



  • I am DETERMINED to laugh more
  • I am DETERMINED to love more
  • I am DETERMINED to eat healthier
  • I am DETERMINED to run more
  • I am DETERMINED to do well at TKD
  • I am DETERMINED to enjoy life to its fullest
  • I am DETERMINED to have a great year

If you had to pick one word that will help to define you and guide your for next year, what word would you choose?

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

I did BELIEVE

I chose the word BELIEVE for 2014 and set myself some goals around it.

  • I believe that I will be successful in 2014 
  • I believe that I will be there as a friend and partner to Hilary 
  • I believe that I will be the best parent I can be to Liam 
  • I believe that I will continue to become a better runner
  • I believe that I will grow my Tae Kwon Do skills 
  • I believe that I will achieve my health goals

The year started out strong and I really did BELIEVE that I could do all these things. I ran my first 10k race  . I became a green belt in TaeKwon- Do  and competed in an Eastern Canadian Championship tournament . My love and friendship with Hilary continued to grow  and while parenting is one of the hardest roller coaster rides I’ve ever been on, I really do try my best. 2014 has also been a successful year in my professional life.

The area that I feel that I did not achieve in 2014 is my health goals. Somewhere around the end of summer I stopped BELIEVING in myself, and stopped trying. I stopped running, I missed more TKD classes then I attended and I stopped focusing on healthy eating. So it’s no surprise that I’m ending 2014 feeling a lot less healthy then I did when the year started.

That is part of the ups and downs of life though, so I’m not going to dwell on it and give up completely. I have started BELIEVING in myself again and I am moving on, ready to face a new year.

I’ll be picking my word for 2015 in the next few days as 2014 comes to a close. If you had to pick one word to help guide you through the new year, what would it be?

Sunday, December 21, 2014

The last art card

This is Liam's last year in elementary school, so this is the last year that he will make an art card.



It was hard to fit all 9 into a single shot so I ended up having to stitch them together.  His art card this year is titled 'The Lively Triangles" and was inspired by his study of microbes under a microscope.


Friday, December 12, 2014

Memories

Last week I made a list of all the places I have lived in my 44+ years. I knew it was a lot, but I was surprised when they were all written out, that I have lived at 22 different places. The longest I've ever lived anywhere was the house my Mom still lives in. I spent 13 years there. I've owned 2 of my own houses and have lived in each of them for 9 years. With no plans to move ever again, our current home is likely to be the one that will top out at the longest in just a few more years.


I have memories from most of the places I have lived, except the earliest ones, and a couple from the early ‘90s when my memories of most things are sketchy at best. The memories run the gamut of emotions from happy to sad, grief to anger, joy to hopelessness.

But the one house that holds the most memories for me is the one at which I never lived. My Grandparents house.


It wasn't very big and was kind of dark.  There was no backyard to speak of, so I mostly played in the driveway or under a huge blue spruce that had to be cut down years ago.  The only shower was a stand alone in the unfinished basement. It was a pretty creepy basement with open stairs, a painted cement floor, a dangling light bulb and cubby holes that lead into an abyss of darkness. When I was little I loved to hang out down there with my Grandfather. He had been a boxer in his youth and still had a lot of equipment in the basement. I would have a go at the heavy bag and try desperately to lift the big heavy weights with him.

When I was growing up my Grandparents lived there with their 2 youngest sons, their 2 oldest children having left the nest 20 years earlier. There were 3 bedrooms upstairs, all off a small hallway that wasn't wide enough to allow 2 people to pass each other. When my parents and I visited for the weekend, everyone would get displaced, making room for us – I would bunk in bed with Grandma, Grandpa got the couch and one uncle gave up his room to my parents and  slept on the floor in the living room.


We spent almost all holidays and most weekends at my Grandparent’s house. Often my Mom and I would make the hour drive on our own while my Dad stayed home and worked on the weekends. I remember being curled up on the couch Christmas eve when Santa came to the door; waking up early Christmas morning and my Grandma sneaking down to get me a bun to eat in bed in the hopes of giving everyone an extra few minutes of sleep. Sunday dinners were always big affairs, served at one o’clock. Every single meal included mashed potatoes, mashed by my Grandfather with his big strong hands.

By the middle of next month the house will be emptied of all of my Grandparent's things.  The house has been sold.  My Grandpa passed away more then 20 years ago and my Grandma has lived there by herself since then.  Until she couldn't anymore.  My oldest uncle found a wonderful nursing home that can look after her daily needs and she moved there this past summer.  It took a while to get the house ready to show and the market isn't the greatest, so it took a while to sell.  But now it has.

I'm glad that I was able to have one last visit to the house this past summer.  My Grandmother had already moved and the packing up had started.  The house was eerily quiet.  Quiet enough for the memories to wash over me as I stood in a doorway or gazed down the hall.  There were still pictures on the shelves, the same pictures that had been there since I was little.  New ones had been added as the Great-Grandchildren came along.  Every sight, smell and sound brought forth another memory.   The weird noise the bathroom lock made, the squeak of the third step that meant I could never sneak in late without someone hearing me.

I live to far away to be able to help my family with packing up the remaining memories.  I will cling to the photographs that I have showing carpet that never changed, outdated but comfortable furniture and kitchen cabinets that housed a dishwasher that was never used.  I am glad for all the memories that I have and I hope that whoever lives there next can make their own awesome memories too.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Microbiology

Today we attended Liam's second to last elementary school fair.  Twice a year, at the end of each semester, from pre-school to grade 6, the parents are invited in so that the children can share with us what they have studied.


Over the years he has studied Humming Birds (his first fair when he was 4), bio-luminescent sea creatures when he was 6, the human body at 7 and the mysteries of Oak Island at 11


This year, at the ripe old age of 12 he studied microbiology.  I learned more in their 30 minute presentation then I did from a whole year of Grade 11 Biology class.  We learned about atoms and cell parts, what a macrophage was, the difference between bacteria and a viruses and the history of the microscope and how they work.



For one of their experiments they created an environment for penicillin to grow in and wrote up their findings.


Luckily they used really strong bags because Liam had left his experiment in his tray of work that Hilary and I went through on parent-teach night, 2 weeks after the experiment had ended.

Liam explained drug resistant bacteria to everyone.


I can't wait to see what he learns next!

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Twenty-One

Today Hilary and I celebrate 21 years together! I can't wait to see what the next 21 bring.




Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Kim Chi Soondubu Jjigae

Hilary decided to try Korean cooking this week.  

Kimchi Soondubu Jjigae is a hot and sour soup with beef, shrimp, tofu and of course Kim Chi.  Kim Chi is a spicy fermented vegetable dish made with cabbage.  When we bought some at the Korean market for this dish, the shop owner wanted to make sure we knew what we were buying as we were buying the strongest kind they sold.  She didn't have many Canadian customers buying that version.

The soup was wonderful.  The soft tofu added at the end gave it a nice creamy texture.  This dish qualifies as one of the spiciest that Hilary has made.  I think we may serve it over rice tonight to cut down a bit on the spice and to help flesh it out more.