M is for... Mom

Today M is for Mom.  It seems a simple word.  I am just so fortunate to be so close to my own mom.  When I was a kid, I was a daddy's girl all the way... but as I grew older, though I retained my close relationship with my dad, I really did grow a lot closer to my mother.  Now, I am able to go to her with anything.  She and I have a very open, adult relationship and I understand what it means for mothers and daughters to become friends.  I love how much we laugh together, how she comes to me for help and support just as I can always go to her.  I just love my mom, and appreciate her in my life very much!  I hope to one day be the mom she was to me for my own kids, and I hope I can develop the same strong relationship with my future children that she has with hers.  Love you, momma.

H, I, J, K, L are for.... House (buying) Is Just Kinda Labour-intensive!

 

 House buying...

Is... 

Just... 

Kinda...

Labour-intensive!

I have a very good reason for why I pretty much missed an entire week of A to Z blogging...

Mr. Lock and I are buying our first home!!!

Last Saturday the paperwork began, then we had to deal with the bank to move some funds around and make sure we had our financing approved, we've had to deal with a lawyer reading over our Purchase and Sale agreement, we've been excited with our family, and have visited the model home multiple times!

So... there you go!  I missed blogging because real life got VERY exciting!  House (buying) Is Just Kinda Labour-intensive, alright?!  

I am so excited to document the process here as we go!  It is a brand new build, a semi-detached home.  Right now our closing date is February 2014, so there is lots of time before we move from our rental condo still.  It's just wonderful to start the next stage of our lives together, moving on to becoming home owners!!

Wooooo!

Also, I could use some input to help out a friend of mine, can you quickly give your two-cents over at this post here?  Anyone is welcome to comment with their opinion, please!  How would you most likely choose a veterinarian, word of mouth or via some other search method?

G is for... Grateful

I am feeling a little under the weather tonight -- mostly just sleepy on this Monday evening after a busy weekend, but also a bit of a headache... so this will be very short.

For the letter G, I am saying the word "grateful" tonight.  I am so happy and settled in my life right now, and there is some great stuff on the horizon.  I am grateful for my large and loving family, a family that raised me to be a very inherently good person who is also full of goals and the drive to achieve them.  I am grateful for my very good friends who are like a second family to me.  I am grateful for Mr. Lock who makes me feel so loved even in the simple moments of our time together.  I am grateful for my good fortune and happy life.  It's just nice to reflect every now and then and remember the good, and then be thankful for it and continue to work towards deserving it.

I'm grateful, for my life and the people who make it as wonderful as it is.  Thank you, all.

F is for... fas·tid·i·ous

I asked Mr. Lock for an "f" word for today's post... which I know I am again a bit late on writing!  After a bit of swearing (of course), he said the word "fastidious".  He was gifted, he knows big words.  I looked it up, and had a good laugh.

fas·tid·i·ous

Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail. Very concerned about matters of cleanliness.

I am quite a "clean freak".  Though I am course a normal person who has my times of clutter, I tend to get really squirmy if things aren't clean.  I've been known to be a bit of a hypochondriac, to the point where I used to feel like I could see the little germs crawling around ready to infect me... luckily as I've matured, I've been a bit more easy going than I was in the past... haha.  My friends and family know that if I'm expecting a visitor, I don't feel right if I don't thoroughly clean my condo before they set foot in here.  The funny thing is, I'm not *that* judgemental or worried about it when I visit other peoples homes, and yet I worry way too much about my own space.  It's like I have a reputation to uphold!

My own mom has taken to saying, "Just because I'm stopping in a for a few minutes to drop something off, DO NOT feel like you need to do a major cleaning!!!".

So, I am quite a fastidious type of person... I certainly notice the "little things".

Oh, the part about fastidious that isn't quite like me is that I'm not so "demanding" and "hard to please".

I may like to get my own way sometimes, but, I mean... who doesn't?!

E is for... Eggs 'n Toast

This is a short one today... I'm a bit exhausted, and so very busy!  Keeping up with a post a day is already tiring, BUT also makes me feel good!

E is for... Eggs 'n Toast!

I have mentioned it on the blog before, but I am not the cook of the condo.  Mr. Lock is an awesome cook, and he takes care of the majority of our meals (I know, I am SO, SO lucky!).  He cooks a nice variety of foods, doesn't mind making my favourites even if they aren't as rich as he may like to flavour them, and he BAKES too!  Yeah.  I KNOW, RIGHT?!

The big joke around here is when there's a night I have to fend for myself for dinner.  I'm not a disaster when it comes to cooking... if I have a recipe and some confidence, I really do cook perfectly delicious things.  I just don't enjoy it.  So, my go-to meal when I have to dine alone?  That's right, eggs 'n toast.

Eggs for dinner was always a popular meal in my house growing up if we were having a lazy, "anything night" for supper.  Scrambled eggs were usually what my mom made, sunny side up if my grandma was making them.  I tend to make sunny side up for myself, so I can dip my toast in the yolk.  I enjoy scrambled, too, though if I feel like doing something really fast and easy.

So, as we head into the weekend... if you are having a lazy, "anything night" for dinner... I always recommend my classic: eggs 'n toast.  Have some raspberry jam on that toast, it's perfection.

Oh thank goodness for my in-home chef saving me from my boring meals most nights, I am sooo lucky ladies!

What is your go-to meal for a quick 'n easy dinner?

D is for.... Dance!

I was a bit late, but it's still April 4th, so I'm still getting my post in for today!  Phew!  Today is a bit of a hard day, because it's the anniversary of my grandfather's passing... I was very close to him, he lived in my household with me from the age of two so he was more like a second father than just a grandpa.  I cannot believe that it has actually been NINE years since he passed, it still feels like just yesterday.  I still miss you, Poppa.

On a happier note, my actual post for today isn't about D for Death... it's about D for Dance!  So, I'd rather focus on that!

My mom and I had been talking for years about taking an adult beginner's tap dancing class for exercise and something fun to do together each week.  We both needed a way to get active, and we had both been tap dancers as children (I only did tap for a couple of years at around age 7 and 8, my mom was a tap dancer through her teens and into her early 20s!).  Finally, we took the plunge and signed up for a class.  We began last September.

We are LOVING IT.  To the point where we've actually added a second class, so now we go to tap dancing every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour each.  It is amazing exercise!  It is so fun to move to the music, and tap away on our shoes, and just laugh and have a good time together.  There are five of us in our Tuesday class, and just three of us on Thursday.  We are all having so much fun.

Dancing has always been my favourite way to get exercise.  I was a ballerina from ages 3 to 16, did tap, jazz, and hip hop dance classes throughout that time, too.  In University, my friends and I signed up for  a session of hip hop dancing which was a blast.  I also love, love, love going line dancing with my friend Amanda who writes at Multi-Testing Mommy.  We aren't afraid to hop down onto the dance floor and follow along with the much more expert line dancers on a Saturday night.  It is so fun if you can release your inhibitions and just dive in!

For Christmas, I received a Kinect for Mr. Lock's X-Box, and the game Just Dance 4.  I live in a small space, but I've found a way to make the game work for me, and I work up a huge sweat following along to the dancers!  I end up dancing away an hour or more without even thinking about it -- it is just so enjoyable.

I'm just so happy to still have dance in my life!  I'm not great about going to a gym to work out and use the machines, so dance is my best way to burn calories and keep in shape.  I've actually lost 5 pounds since starting my tap classes, which makes me feel a bit more toned and happy about my body.  I hope my mom is up for continuing our tap classes again next fall!

C is for... Curing Cancer

I am so, so pleased that this year I am once again walking for The Weekend to End Women's Cancers.  This charity is to raise funds for cancer research as done by the Campbell Family Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Ontario.  This is a top five cancer research centre worldwide, and the event is massive.  The funding goes towards research, clinical enhancements, as well as survivorship programs.  This will be my team's third time walking in four years... last year we missed the event for Quin's wedding day, but made a sizeable donation to another walking team we knew.

Through donations to support our walking team in our past two walks, The Couch Potatoes for the Cure, we have raised over $12,000 for this amazing research centre -- and not only for breast cancer research, but for important gynaecological cancer research as well.  We pledge to walk 35 km in the one-day walk (one year we did the full 60 km two-day walk, but now we're back to one... 35 km is still a good long walk, though!).  We pledge to raise at least $1250 EACH, though of course we will keep adding to our total donations until the big event. 

In 2004, my great-aunt (mom's aunt/grandma's sister) passed away of cancer that began as ovarian cancer before spreading around her body.  We were there for her during her journey and battle, and I have her in my heart whenever I talk about this big charity event, my big fundraising event each year now.

There are a few special links I'd like to share.  I just came across this blog, "The Battle We Didn't Choose", which includes a series of photos of a woman who was diagnosed with cancer five months after getting married, and then who unfortunately passed away four years later.  The photographs are heart-wrenching, I warn you, but there is such good intention behind showing the reality of this horrific disease and the empathy we need to build for families going through these experiences.

There's a wonderful website for ordering fundraising or breast cancer awareness items run by a lady in Toronto, it's called Think Pink Direct.  You can also "like" them on Facebook here.  I ordered a batch of pink ribbons for fundraising this year, and the service was quick and wonderful and very personal.  Randy herself was unfortunately diagnosed with breast cancer this March and was fortunately able to work with the wonderful doctors at Princess Margaret to have a very successful surgery.  After 10 years (this will be the 11th of the walk), she is now going to be walking as a "survivor".

I am so proud of my team and our work raising money for this research centre, I believe in the good work the doctors at the Princess Margaret Hospital are doing.

If you could be so kind as to donate to our walking team, you can donate online directly to me here: Stephanie's Personal Page

You can donate to another member of my team by selecting any name off of our Team Page, here: Couch Potatoes for the Cure Team Page.

B is for.... Baby Fever!

To continue on this theme of adulthood.... you guys, I have Baby Fever.  I've pretty much had it my whole life, since I had that first baby doll toy that I was so good at pretending was my Real Baby.  I've been one of those girls who always dreamed of the time when I would become a Mom.  Not everyone has maternal instincts or feels so easily ready to become a parent, but I am one of those "I cannot wait to have a baby of my own!!!1!11" crazy people.

I grew up in a large family as one of the eldest cousins, so when we used to visit our family cottage I was always surrounded by new baby cousins to snuggle and care for.  I loved when my aunts would pass a new baby on to me, as they headed out to take their older children on a boat ride or for a swim.  I would rock my baby cousins, sing them songs, and dream of when it was my turn for this joy of having little ones of my own.

I have to be honest, when over planning my life... I always, always thought I'd have a baby by now.  I wanted at least two babies by age thirty, since my plan used to always be to have at least three, maybe four, children.  Before having my bad break-up in 2010, this seemed reasonable to still imagine.  However, since then I have been able to adjust my perspective on this, and realize it isn't rare these days not to have a child before age thirty... however, every year that I get closer, with no ring on my finger and no immediate plans for pregnancy, I do wilt a little inside and have a mini panic attack that "it'll never happen" (crazy, I know, but alas, such is my mind).  It'll all be fine, and looking back won't seem nearly so bad, but man!  I do ever so badly look forward to the day I'm a mom.  I just love kids, love taking care of other peoples kids, and crave domestic "mom" life so much.  I'm such a fan of mommy blogs, and yet by the time this blog becomes one that fad will have faded, I'm sure!

I also know my "time to shine" will be when the time for kids in our lives happens.  I feel very good about my abilities as an educator (a caregiver of a certain type, for sure), however I know I don't always have that much to contribute yet to my relationship since Mr. Lock is the expert cook, and is better at understanding big picture finance and other issues.  One day, though, when it's time for children, there I will be.  I'll have the knowledge, the skills, the organization plans, the resources... I will really shine, and I am so looking forward to it.

So, this is just the real me... baby obsessed.  My best friends know this, and always have.  As if it is meant to make it easier on me as a gift from the universe, it seems my best friends are not quite ready yet to start having babies the way I would be if I had of been married before them... so at least that makes it a little easier to take.  There would be some definite feelings of jealousy to overcome if they had kids far, far before me.  On the other hand, there would be babies in my life that I would hopefully be called upon often to take care of fairly often... so perhaps I would get over the jealousy in favour of the babies!  Babies in my life!

In fact... they can get started anytime.  They have my full approval and support.

Let's turn it over to you... are you a parent, or do you want to be one some day?  Did you ever experience baby fever?  How many children do you have, or do you hope to have one day?  If you have never wanted to have children, is there a reason why?

A is for... Adulthood

Today is day one of my A to Z blogging challenge!  I've chosen the word "Adulthood" as my A themed post today.

Lately, at age 27... fine, yes, only just over four months away from 28, I've really been feeling like I belong under the blanket term of  "Adulthood".  I've felt like I was an adult for quite awhile, in fact I was never really much of a teenager, mostly way too mature for my age or so I thought... but lately, it's been different and I actually feel a different sense of what being an adult means.

I've been living in a condo away from my parents for over two years now.  I've been in a very serious relationship with my boyfriend for just over two years... to the point where we are actually beginning to research house hunting and buying our first home.  My two best friends are married.  I'm in my fourth year of teaching, and this was my second full year of having my own full-time September to June classroom with no break to supply teach at all (I'm still covering maternity leaves and am not permanent, but I'm doing the job of a permanent teacher regardless of that detail).  I feel like I'm in control of a lot right now, and I feel good about it.  I feel like discussions I have about the future are quite mature, heading down the path I've been looking forward to for a long time.

This really does feel like "Adulthood", and I feel very good about it.  I'm happy with the path my life journey has been taking me on, and am looking forward to this phase very much.  I suppose that hopefully slow approach to age 30 really does mature you quite a lot.

I'm looking forward to a month of posting, I will admit that while I will probably post a lot about my life... I am not sticking to any particular theme, I will just go where the letters of the alphabet take me this month.  We shall just see what's on my mind!

How about you?  When did you actually, really, feel like you were an Adult?  Or, have you even gotten there yet?