I watched Cats. Or: Surviving the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020

"Perhaps it’s the terrifying uncertainty of the day-to-day, or perhaps it’s Rogen’s delightfully delighted reaction to it, but Cats is starting to look like the movie we never knew we needed to spice up our quarantines."
The Guardian article

What a world we live in right now, eh? This is the craziest experience for all of us. (I know, I know -- Thanks, Captain Obvious!)

I fell off the blogging wagon around 2016 I see. I was slowing down on how frequently I blogged for awhile before that. It was a hobby I truly enjoyed, but then it sort of fizzled. Sometime around doing more browsing on a Smart Phone than on a laptop, I'm sure. It isn't like I never had downtime, but I just fell out of blogging.  I know a lot of bloggers did.

Recently, the concept of a Blog Resurgence was brought up on a post by Swistle -- a blogger I still continue to read every time there's new content.  This idea intrigued me!  It's a great hobby to get back into during these strange times. So, here I am!  (Ohmigod we're back again -- doo, doo, doo, doo /Backstreet Boys).

I watched Cats.

You know it -- that trainwreck Razzie award-winning musical based off the highly popular for a thousand years now Broadway show of the same name?  Amazing cast -- TERRIBLE CGI?

I watched it. I was getting anxious and sick of all of the covid-19 news and it was time for something completely different. Seth Rogen had also live-tweeted his viewing of it and it came to mind as just the sort of ridiculous nonsense I was searching for.

I’m pretty stoned and watching Cats. I’ve never seen the broadway show. It is truly trippy. Am I supposed to know what a Jellicle is? They’ve said it 200,000 times but I don’t know what’s happening haha.

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) March 18, 2020

It worked, by the way. Like The Guardian article I quoted at the top of this post, I think it may just be the "movie we never knew we needed" at this time.  It was cheesy and awful.  I will say that the singing was good, though. It IS a pretty great cast.  But the CGI...oh Lord, the CGI.  It was truly just THE WORST.  I know they say Jellicle Cats are small -- but HOW SMALL are they supposed to be? I felt like there was a big problem with the consistency of the size of these cats and the objects around them.  There are also a lot of strangely sensual cat ballet numbers that are more than a little off-putting.

I am a huge lover of Broadway musicals.  However, I actually DON'T love/like Cats.  There are some songs I find catchy ("Memory", "Mr. Mistoffelees")... but when I saw Cats when it came to Toronto when I was a teenager, I didn't read the description of the show and when intermission rolled around I was SO CONFUSED.  I kept attempting to find the story line.  It wasn't until I finally read the synopsis that I learned it was supposed to be vignettes and short stories about all of these different jellicle cats.  It wasn't a great theatre experience for me, even if I did find some of the songs catchy.  I think the film tries to weave a bit of a story line into it -- or the bit of story line that I did notice in the movie is a part of the stage production and it just went over my head at the time.

This pandemic situation is nuts -- let's face it, every blog post I'm about to start writing will feature this pandemic in some way.  So I'm not going to get into much else about it tonight.

I highly recommend the coping tool of watching some hilariously bad movies as a form of much-needed escapism.  Cats may have been an absolute box office disaster -- but in times of disaster, maybe it truly is just what we need.

Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I musn't give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin
- "Memory", Cats

Au Revoir 2015!

It's hard to believe another year is coming to an end!  2015 had many fun and happy moments, but it was also a tough year in some ways.  I'm not going to lie, I'm ready to move on and see what 2016 will bring!

How would I summarize 2015...

I definitely have many happy memories with my friends.  The usual happened, hanging out together, playing board games, having parties.  We went to cottages, we vacationed together since Quin joined us in Myrtle Beach this past summer.  Mr. Lock participated in a local musical theatre production, which was a really cool thing for him to do and which introduced us to many new local people to befriend.  It was a great way to extend our social circle, and it was an amazing show.  From that, we have attended a few fun parties and events with some new folks, too.  We celebrated 30th birthdays (Quin, Rick, me, and Dr. McVet all had 30th birthdays this year).

We have happy memories with our families.  We brought our puppy, Gryphon, home in February.  He has added a lot of fun to our life!  We went on summer family vacations -- I got two weeks in Myrtle Beach and then a week at Mr. Lock's family cottage.  We had fun events like our usual Oscar night competition, watching the Super Bowl together, celebrating family birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas celebrations (we had FOUR DAYS of events for Christmas, plus one of my family parties the weekend before).

This was an interesting year for my job, as I was declared surplus from the school I worked in for many years and had to change schools after the school year began.  This has had its challenged, but looking on the bright side I do see some benefits to this having happened (better commute, for one!).  I'm better as I've gotten older with managing change.  I can see it as a good thing. 

My family had some health challenges this year, and associated stress with that.  Fortunately, everyone made it through.  There is still a long road ahead for some of my family, but we are hopeful they have fight left in them and will see a happier and healthier 2016.

Mr. Lock and I, truth be told, have had a difficult time starting the family we'd like to have already started.  This isn't something I blogged about or was very vocal about.   Though, maybe it'd be better to just put it out there.  Anyway,  I am very, very hopeful that 2016 will be the year we can announce a human baby joining us.  Cross your fingers on our behalf, dear Internet.

I've noticed that 2015 was a year of watching A LOT of TV on Netflix. Haha.  It was not much of a reading year for me.  I think I embraced the easy distraction that TV provides, plus had a lot of fun discovering so much content on Netflix. 

This final week of 2015 involves a lot of fun social events with friends, some of whom we don't see that often.  Then, our usual Fancy Dress House Party for New Years Eve.  Au revoir, 2015!

Thirty.

Yesterday was my 30th birthday.

It just sounds like such a grown-up age.  My husband is 31, and I have friends in their 30s, and it never seemed like a big deal to me.  Yet, on the last day of being 29, I actually felt wistful and a bit emotional.

I don't personally *feel different*, as you rarely do when you age as an adult (I barely feel different than I did turning 19), but wow.  I am a 30-year-old now.  I'm in my 30's.  It seems like it should be different.

It seems more mature.  I feel like I have more authority behind my ideas and opinions.  I'm happy to go back to work in September as a 30-year-old teacher.  It feels as though I should be taken even more seriously now, even though I know I've been a knowledgeable and great teacher for the past six years anyway.

The fact that it's a whole new decade of life seems meaningful.  Life between 0 - 10 was childhood wonder and imagination, life between 10 - 19 were teen years based on forming identity and individuality, life between 20 - 29 was about independence, career, and establishing meaningful relationships.  It was also about reconnecting with family and learning to appreciate family relationships as friendships.

Now I begin 30 - 39. 

My predictions:  Hopefully these are the years of establishing our own family.  These will be my child-bearing years, our years of snuggling our sweet babies and managing sleepless nights.  Changes in our social time as we start a family... though hopefully our friends and other family members will begin to start their families too and our social activities will just shift.  These are the years I've been looking forward to for a long time... I'm such a maternal person, after all.  I feel like this is my decade to "shine".  I'm established as a permanent contract teacher, I have a home and a husband, I am ready for the next phase.

This may be a decade with loss.  It's hard as I get older not to consider those around me who are aging too.  Ten more years with three living grandparents doesn't seem possible, as an example.  I'm fortunate enough to have three grandparents in my life at the time of my 30th birthday.  With having children later and later now, this won't be the reality of future children I'm sad to say.  Loss is a part of the cycle of life, though, and to be honest... at least I feel better prepared to manage my emotions when thinking about this sort of change.

Another important point about turning 30, I have to admit that the anxiety that plagued my life for so long is currently under much better control.  I'm a more flexible thinker, I handle change better.  I'm able to relax and take more in stride.  I feel more confident in my personal safety in many ways compared to how helpless and scared I used to feel. 

Is my anxiety gone? 

No.  Not at all. It still lingers below the surface as a gentle buzzing across my skin... I'm just certainly better at keeping it at bay, and am better at rational thinking than when I was younger.

So, I'm thirty-years-old.  I'm in my 30s.   I'm a mature, independent adult.   I wonder what my life story really will be in this next decade?  I'm ready for it.

Hm!

You see, I want to blog.  I want to keep updating it and reaching out and enjoying the social atmosphere that blogging provides online.

However...

I just don't know what to write about!  You see, I live a pretty average life.  I have a wonderful husband, I take care of my dog, I watch TV, I spend time with friends, etc etc.. nothing overly crazy or interesting happens worthy of writing about it!  I often start a "new post", and then abandon the idea of writing anything because I do not know what to write about.

It's a bit sad, because I *love* the act of writing.  Even this post that is about nothing, I feel great typing it out.  I want to share and connect... I just have no particular story to tell at this time!

I think I get stuck with how much personal information to share, not having a blog that has reviews or other general information to put out there, and then having a totally average, not that exciting existence.  Not that I'm saying that in a bad way.  I love my life.  It is totally normal and full of things like "today I did the laundry" or "today I watched three episodes of Psych on Netflix".  It is a happy life, just not necessarily full of much blog fodder.

So, that's where I'm at right now and that's why I hardly update... I rarely know what to say!  I'm going to try to keep it going, but for now I will admit it, if you stumble upon this blog... it may be pretty dull reading the Journal of an Average Josephine (what is the female version of "Average Joe"?).

PS -- if anyone out there really is reading this and would like to toss out some topics I could write about, go for it in the comments!

Ways I've Been Productive Today

I had a day at home today because of an appointment.  I... was very tired and lazy, so then I figured I needed to list ways I was productive so I feel better about also being very lazy.  I was composing this in an email to Mr. Lock just so I could tell SOMEONE about my accomplishments, then remembered I've wanted to blog more and probably the reason I feel the need to SHARE is because I miss sharing the mundane moments of my life in this format.  So here goes:

1) Doctors appointment to start the day, alls well and such.

2) Emptied dishwasher/dealt with dishes by the sink.

3) Cleaned fish bowl (a HUGE accomplishment, really) (that poor fish, I'm tellin' ya).

4)  Finally dealt with a Service Ontario letter I received awhile ago about my VIN being incorrect... and... it WAS incorrect on my insurance slips.  So, good I found that paperwork and paid attention to it.  Emailed insurance broker to have mistake fixed.

5)  Submitted Scholastic orders and did a few emails for work related things.

6) Folded and put away my winter sweaters that were messy in our room.

7)  Folded and put away clothes on top of Gryphon's crate.

8)  Tried taking Gryphon for walk.  Epic fail.  Eff him and walking alone.  Browsed dogs for adoption out of frustration of him needing a friend to walk with.  (KIDDING.  Though I did browse a bit...)(I think Dr. McVet has trained him to not walk alone because she wants us to have more pets, must look into this conspiracy theory).

9) Caught up on my recorded episodes of the Ellen DeGeneres Show so the PVR was cleaned up a bit.  That's very, very important, afterall. (Yes, I record Ellen.  I'm addicted to her talk show.).

10) Brushed Gryphon thoroughly.

11) Erm.  Uh.  

Okay, that's it.

I think I'm going to refresh the look of my blog, in some simple fashion, and then try to get back to it.  I do miss it.  Gah!

So, that will be number 11 if I get that accomplished...  11) Refreshed blog.

March Break - woo hoo!

I am officially on March Break, and I am so glad! haha.  I love my class, but teaching kindergarten is exhausting, and a break is lovely!

I'm going to have a real "staycation".  Actually, it is mostly just "stay" with very little "cation".  Not many plans at all, but at least that leaves me open to making plans if anything comes up.  I am going to have a lovely afternoon tomorrow with my friend's daughter as an early celebration of her birthday.  Tuesday evening, I'm taking in a viewing of the new Cinderella movie with some friends.  Wednesday, a co-worker may come by to meet our puppy and chat over coffee for a bit.  I also hope to do some decluttering and reorganizing in our guest room and home office... both areas need some TLC, as they have become quite the "drop spot" for a variety of items, and we need to make better use of some storage areas in those rooms.

I'm glad for a week to spend time training the puppy, not feeling rushed in the mornings to get out the door, and to just relax and refresh!

In some ways, I cannot believe March Break is already here.  We are heading into the spring (yay!), and into the last 3.5 months of this school year.  It's amazing how time flies!

For now I'm going to focus on having a relaxing week, and I'm going to try to hope this particular week doesn't go by TOO quickly!

Reflecting on 2014

Tonight, as the house is quiet following quite a fun and festive New Years celebration with our best friends, I'm feeling reflective.  I guess a "new year" does that to you, even if you previously thought you really wouldn't bother blogging a reflection post.  Ah well, here I am!  2014 was quite a special and important year for me.

Our home was finished being constructed and we were able to move in on February 6th.  Our journey into home ownership has been such a positive experience.  We have loved living in our neighbourhood, and our place has felt cozy and right for us from the moment we got the keys.  We've been enjoying picking out some new furniture and decor, and have been able to host some nice gatherings with our friends and family here.  We hope to do a lot more hosting in the coming years, as the space continues to come together.  In 2015, our goal is most likely to paint over the horrible builder's paint in the main areas of the house.  It will be quite the interesting process as we try to pick out paint colours for such large areas of the home!  I also hope to hang some more pictures, and to get an overhead light for our dining room area and a nice, large mirror for above a buffet storage cabinet we have in that room.

Mr. Lock and I enjoyed events leading up to our wedding, and were overjoyed by how perfect and special our wedding day was on May 24, 2014.  Just two days before that, Mr. Lock turned the milestone age of 30.  Sometimes when I think back on my earlier 20s when I was so eager for marriage and domestic life, I am thankful in the end for the direction my life went.  Mr. Lock is such a fantastic husband.  He is kind, fair, accepting, helpful around the house, and is an excellent cook.  I am very, very lucky and I am thankful every day!

In the summer, we enjoyed our honeymoon vacation to the East Coast of Canada immensely.  What a beautiful place to be!

In September, I began teaching kindergarten.  This was the grade I went into this career hoping to teach one day, so it felt very special to have that dream realized.  It was a very challenging transition, in the end, and I had many moments of frustration as I adjusted to a much different educational world than the grades I had taught before (grades 1 - 4).  Kindergarten is certainly a very unique grade.  I have since learned more about the age group I am working with, and my confidence as a kindergarten teacher is returning.  I do love the age of the children, and my students are so sweet and are learning so much!  I am actually happy to return to work on Monday!  Shocking as that may seem to some people, haha.  But I do love my job!

2014 was certainly a year to remember.  As we move forward to 2015, I'm excited by the prospect of adding to our family (hopefully!  Though I don't want to jinx myself so I may not talk much about that until it happens, haha).  We shall start with adding a fur-baby, a Wheaten Terrier/Poodle Cross which we should be bringing home from the breeder in February!  We haven't "picked our puppy" yet; but the litter was born December 7th, and mid-January we should get to go and pick the one we will be calling our own.

Thanks for a wonderful year, 2014.  You were very good to me!  Cheers to another wonderful year in 2015!  My 30th year!

Happy Holidays!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and a happy holiday season!

December 19th was the last day of school before the winter break.  This year, with Christmas Eve on the Wednesday, I haven't really felt like I've had a break!  We had such a wonderful time celebrating Christmas, but it feels like it is all I've been doing.  Even with some time to relax Sunday to today, it has still felt like this winter break is going by VERY quickly, and has been VERY busy.  I'm enjoying it; but I will admit, I prefer when Christmas happens right away on the winter break from school.  That way, New Years comes up quickly too, and there is actually time AFTER New Years to relax.

My Christmas was wonderful, though.  We saw my mom's side of the family on December 20th.  My cousin is currently pregnant, and it is very exciting for our family to welcome a new baby.  She found out just before our party that she is having a girl, so we cannot wait to spoil her baby when she is born in May.

December 21st, we went to Quin's & Mac's house for our Sitcom Group of Friends' Christmas get-together.  Quin did a great job preparing appetizers, and we enjoyed relaxing together and seeing one another before the holiday craziness with our families began.

This year, Mr. Lock and I spent Christmas Eve with his family and then Christmas Day with mine.  Both events were really fun, we had great food and received plenty of fun and useful gifts!  Everyone was very generous.  We are actually getting a puppy (more on that later!), so many of our gifts were PetSmart gift cards -- which is SO appreciated!

On Boxing Day, we went to my grandparents' house to spend time with my dad's side of the family.  It was good to see them, and we played our favourite card game (Canasta) and had MORE delicious food.  While I would have liked to see a white Christmas, the clear weather for travelling was appreciated.

On December 27th, we went skating at a rink that Mr. Lock's godfather rents every year.  Then, off to their home for a potluck dinner with lots of my in-laws friends.  MORE delicious food and treats; good thing we spent an hour skating, hopefully we burned some calories!

I've now been trying to accomplish a few tasks around the house; and clean and prepare for our New Years Eve celebrations!  This year, our Fancy Dress House Party is at our house.  It is really fun to be hosting.  I'm excited for ringing in another New Year with our best friends.

I'm just glad I have amazing Norwex products to make cleaning my home a project I actually enjoy! haha.  I'm off to dive into that job now...

Have a Happy New Year, friends!

New Car!

I am getting quite excited!  While I am of course disappointed that I was in a car collision, a silver lining from the experience is that I'm getting a brand-new car this week!  I've never had a brand-new car, and Mr. Lock and I decided (since my insurance settlement for my car was quite decent) that we could afford to get me one I really like, and that's a slightly larger size than the two, small cars we had before.  We just feel it makes more sense to have a vehicle with some additional trunk space available, and if we are fortunate enough to start a family of our own soon it will be wonderful to have a more spacious vehicle.

We decided to go with a 2015 Hyundai Tuscon.  Mark has a Hyundai, and I really like his car.  The Tuscon comes with some great features (without even having to go to the most expensive trim level), and it was really comfortable to drive.  I've decided to go with a blue colour, as my previous car was gray and I just felt like a fresh start with a colourful change!

I should be hearing from the dealership tomorrow that the car has arrived, so hopefully I can pick it up in the next couple of days!  I am really excited to drive something so new, and to have heated seats this winter, and to be able to put a USB key of awesome music in my car to listen to on my drive to work!  It can be so fun to have something new!

My First Car Accident

A blog can be a great place to write about first time experiences, sadly this one isn't a happy one!

The most important thing is that there were no injuries at all.  I feel I need to say that before I even document my experience.

So, we had terrible weather here earlier this week.  After a dry, fairly easy drive to work the weather turned very sour and the drive home was quite slick.  It was wet, snowy, icy... just terrible driving conditions.  I pride myself on being a very, very safe driver so I was trying to be extra cautious of course.

I didn't take my usual route home, as I was worried that the on-ramp to the highway could be slippery and I didn't want to have issues with cars going too fast on the highway.  I decided to head over to another major road, hoping it would be plowed or at least well-traveled and a little safer.  Along that main road, I felt that I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic.  This made me nervous because with all the stopping and starting, I didn't want a rear-ending issue to happen.  It was taking a long time to crawl along, so I decided to head West on a well-known street and work my way over to another major road that would lead me North to home and close to my neighbourhood.

I was driving along West-bound, and as I approached the intersection I merged into the right turn lane so I could continue on my journey North.

At the same time, a car made a left turn into a plaza... all I remember is thinking "No!  I won't be able to stop!" (no room, slick conditions), as I pumped my break and just braced myself for the impact.  The car had cut through two lanes of traffic to turn into the plaza, and I had merged to the right turn lane (as you do when you are going to turn right at the upcoming intersection), and it was just wrong place, wrong time.  Also because of the weather conditions, I don't believe the car turned as quickly into the plaza as they may have on a dry day (the driveway was a bit uphill and was covered in snow).  I couldn't swerve around them, because of the full lane of traffic in the lane left of mine.

Anyway, I collided with the other vehicle.  The front of my car hit the back, right side of their car near their back tire (my car was much smaller, theirs an SUV).  There was no visible damage to the exterior of their car, the front of my car is quite squashed.  I wasn't travelling fast or dangerously, the air bags didn't deploy or anything like that.

We were able to pull into the plaza to exchange information.  My car was drive-able, and later that night Mr. Lock and my dad went back to the plaza to drive my car back to a body shop up here.  (I had Mr. Lock meet me at the plaza after the accident occurred as I was so shaken and needed his support).  I've made my insurance claim, and now am just waiting to hear what the estimate is and all that.  I had insurance coverage for a rental vehicle, so I got one so that I could drive to and from work this week.

It was such a scary experience.  I was in so much shock, and then was sobbing uncontrollably that night.  It wasn't my fault, the weather conditions were horrible and there were so many collisions on the roads that night... plus, the person should have been extra careful about making a left turn into a plaza (especially not at lights or from a left-turn lane or anything; cutting through traffic to turn left when the weather is so horrible for one of the first times this winter?  Not a very safe decision).

The thing I have to remind myself is that a car is just an object though, this is why we have insurance, and the most important thing is that absolutely no one was injured in any way.  It will continue to remind me of why I drive so carefully; and while we cannot control the other drivers on the road, it is important to personally remember to be cautious in a vehicle, especially in poor weather.

It was a first, and it is not an experience I would like to relive any time soon!

Let's start back in May with my wedding?

Well.

I didn't MEAN to stop blogging!

I've just been very busy, I suppose!  I've also been a little frustrated with my laptop, so I haven't been doing many things I usually did online.  I'm going to try to continue blogging, because I do very much enjoy it!

So many wonderful things happened since my last post!

Mr. Lock and I got married, first of all.  I never blogged about my wedding!  I cannot believe it.

So, we had an absolutely fantastic wedding day.  After a very cool spring, our May 24th wedding day was sunny and quite warm!  It was just perfect.  Everything went according to plan, and I just had so much FUN. The dance party was everything I wanted it to be (that's my favourite part of any wedding, so it was what I cared very much about for my OWN wedding).  My aunts and uncles on my mother's side stayed right until the very end of the night, and we even ended everything with a big group sing-along to Bohemian Rhapsody... it was so cool.  They had such a great time, I was glad I could provide them with that!  I was the first of my cousins to get married on both sides of my very large family, so it was a very special event for everyone.

It was just so exciting to have all of the important people in our lives gathered together in one place... I am so very happy with how my wedding day went!  It all went by very quickly... however, I have incredibly happy memories of the day.

After the wedding, it was time to write report cards and finish off my year teaching SK/1.  I had such a great class, it was bittersweet to see the school year end.  We were also spending time doing some furniture shopping and continuing to set up our new house.  It is coming along nicely.  Our next project will be painting and putting up photos and art, so far we have nothing on the walls.  We are taking our time though.  As a new construction, it is recommended we wait to paint until the house has settled more.  We can still have the builder come back and fix a few things up until the 1 year mark, so we may wait to paint because we have some nail pops that need repair.

Married life has been great so far!  For Mr. Lock and I, not much changed, since we were already living together and forging our life together.  We are very happy, though.

I will update soon about our honeymoon trip this summer -- we drove through the East Coast of Canada, and it was an amazing adventure!

First House. The joy... but, oh, the stress.

Mr. Lock and I have officially been "homeowners" for one week!  One hectic, crazy, stressful week.  I love our house, LOVE IT.  I love being in it, I'm pleased with our hardwood colour and other décor choices (this was a brand new build so we had to choose the tiles and countertops and such).  It's the mess of unpacking, and having to coordinate so many things right now that I'm finding stressful and exhausting... but it will all get done eventually, and we've organized some of our belongings well enough to make the place liveable, so that's okay.

I'm having a bit of a stress break down, actually.  I think the weekend being a long weekend, and trying to catch up on some sleep, will be helpful.  Between obligations and things to do for work, and the set-up of the new house, and the list of wedding things to accomplish as we head towards the 3 month countdown to the big day.... ahhhh.  It's really getting to me.  The new earlier morning commute and the exhaustion of a week at school that had the 100th Day celebration, skating electives day, and then Valentine's Day... I'm too exhausted on week days to do as much as I've been pushing myself to do this past week.  I need to remember that we're going to live in this house for a long time, and since we aren't working on true interior decorating yet (we're mostly just using anything we had for our condo until we've got some savings/wedding gifts behind us)... well, I guess I need to just learn to let go of some of the house stuff so I can sleep properly at night and not be so worked up after the busy school day. 

Last night my entire body was *buzzing* with anger from stress, I haven't felt that way in a long time, if ever, and it was absolutely horrible.  I don't want to keep feeling that way, so I need to find a way to relax.  I think it's time to make some To Do lists, and then really figure out top priorities and take them one item at a time.

I also think I need to blog/journal more often again, as it is an important way for me to manage my anxieties and reflect on the good moments so I hold onto them longer.    I'm going to try to fix my way of thinking...

- we've had our blinds installed so we have better privacy on the main floor and bathrooms
- though they aren't installed yet (because it's a bit of a nightmare), the washer and dryer have at least been delivered and the installation guy my mom used before has been contacted and the part we need has been ordered
- we have moved a lot of boxes to rooms they need to go to, and we have unpacked a lot of boxes as well.  We mostly only have to work on organizing our basement (well, sweeping the dust and painting the floor) and then we can move our longer-term storage items down there and the whole dining room area will be decluttered.  Not that big of a job and a whole area will be taken care of.
- I've organized the kids I need to give permission forms to for a conference I'm going to in April; this was stressful because I have to take intermediate students and I don't teach any, but I had help from a grade 7 teacher and this has been sorted out.
- My students are so sweet and so nice, and we've had a lovely fun week even if it was crazy busy.
- Valentine's Day seemed to include my students bringing me many gifts of chocolate... chocolate makes me feel a lot better. 

So, first home... definitely some stress... but definitely happy, too... I'll manage with more time and organization to feel more settled in.

What a week!

This is my first week commuting further from work in awhile.  Last weekend, I moved out of the condo and back into my parents house.  I'll be living here for two weeks, and then on February 7th we close on our new house!  So, then we move our stuff AGAIN.  At least right now it is just being stored at our parents' houses, we didn't have to unpack/repack.

I'm having quite the week... first of all, report cards are due Friday and my weekend was so busy that I didn't work on them then.  I've been slowly chipping away at them, working on them when I can during the school day on my prep times, but now I really need to use tonight and tomorrow night wisely to ensure they are finished.  They are A LOT of work.  A LOT.

Secondly, my teaching partner (my DECE) is away, and has been since last Wednesday.  While teaching the whole program myself would be easy enough, it's difficult at this time to have a supply DECE and have all the usual routines thrown off.  I'm used to having my DECE there now, and she has particular things she's responsible for, so it does make it different and a little more stressful for her to be away.  So that's making this week difficult in some ways.

Then, I have crazy stories as far as parking and getting to work on time goes...with this new commute, I didn't give myself enough time on Monday considering the snowy weather and the number of accidents on the way to work.  I left at 7:30 am, which in better weather would have been fine, but I got stuck in traffic and didn't get to the school until 9 am!  I had called ahead, and the DECE started the day and all was fine, but I was disappointed that I ended up being there right at the bell.

THEN... I went out at lunch hour, and I had an expensive ticket on my front windshield!  We don't have enough parking for the number of staff members we have, and so I parked on the street where we've been told we can park.  Turns out, because of the weather, a snow plow had to come by and I got a ticket for blocking the snow plow.  Super annoying since where I work wasn't so snow covered that I would have expected a snow plow, PLUS, I would have had no other option for where to park for work.  I'm so grumpy about this ticket.

Tuesday, I did a lot better.  Left here at 7:10 am, and took a different route, and got to school at 8 am!  So much less stressful.

So, today, I was all ready and went out to start my car at 7:15 am.  Car wouldn't start, dead battery.  I go wake up my dad to ask for a boost, but we can't get the hood of my car open!  Long story short, the release latch for the hood was bent.  We had to call and wait for CAA, and they figured out how to open it and boosted my car.  I quickly took my mom's car to work, and she took my car to Honda for repair -- I'm so thankful for my supportive family!

I ended up calling the school and had someone cover for me for first period because by the time I got to work it was 9:40 am!  What an ordeal.  I would have just taken my mom's car to work right away, but my car was parked across the bottom of our driveway since I'm staying here and there aren't enough parking spaces for all of us, so I was blocking every other car in!

This has been a STRESSFUL first week being out of my condo, which was a five minute drive to work and had a parking garage to protect against the bitter cold.  Not such a great start, but all I can do for now is laugh it off... maybe the universe will be kinder when I move to my new house in a week and a half?

The Things I'm Doing Since I Sure Ain't Blogging

I don't know where time is going!  I feel so busy these days!

Things I'm Currently Doing:

- packing!!!  We move out of our condo on SATURDAY.  Then, it's two weeks of living at my parents' house.

- working on assessment and report cards -- due to our Principal on Friday, Jan. 31

- dealing with paperwork and banking and all these grown up things to prepare for our move

- browsing furniture and home décor websites dreaming and scheming about what I'd like to do at the new house

- spending time with family, working on wedding plans and coordinating my mom and Mr. Lock's mom for bridal shower plans

- planning and preparing my lessons for teaching my awesome SK/1 class
So, it is a hectic and busy time... but it's also so exciting, we are getting so close to getting in to our house!  I am just so eager to see it, and while it will take some time to set it up and decorate it the way we want it (and get used to our new financial burdens, haha), I am loving this time in my life!

(Once I move, I'll need to start reviewing the 2014 Academy Award nominees, because I will need to prepare for my Oscar Night bet with my family!  Can't let that slide!)

Phew! A Productive Friday!

Now that my winter break is coming to an end, I'm lucky to have some quieter days.  Yesterday, I slept in, read a lot, and just lounged around watching TV.  I really took it easy!  I needed it. Today, it was back to being productive, getting ready for our big move(s)!

Here are things I got done today:

1)  Took down and packed up all of the Christmas decorations and our tree -- ready for my parents to pick it up tonight and store it at their house before our move.

2) Spoke to my insurance broker and lined up our home insurance, and gave him the lawyer information so everything can be forwarded before our closing date (February 7th!!!).

3)  Booked the elevator for the big move out of our condo (moving our furniture mostly) -- Saturday, January 25th is the day!  We move our furniture out of here, and start living at our parents houses for a couple of weeks.  This gives us a few days to come back here and do a big cleaning of the condo before turning in our keys to our landlord (we have the place until January 31st, but since that's a Friday we feel it's better to move out on the weekend before).

4)  Arranged to have our kitchen appliances delivered on Saturday, February 8th.

5)  Packed another box here with all of our board games, ready to go to my parents house for storage.

6)  Finished off some laundry for the week, washed dishes and unloaded the dishwasher.

7) Paid off some bills online!

Now, there are lots of things I haven't done for school... but there's still time to get that stuff done (I wanted to start getting organized for writing first term report cards, but we'll see... I can always do that next week in the evenings).  Tonight I'm off to the viewing for my Great-Uncle who passed away, and then tomorrow most of our day is taken up with the funeral and burial services.

All in all, though, a very productive day -- so satisfying!  We have three weeks left in our condo, and while I will miss it, I am getting SO excited for our new house!  This week my goal is to pack our movies, books, and small extras that we don't actively need while still living here so I can take a few more boxes out of here next Saturday to store at my parents house.  Each time I go there, I try to take a few more things out of the condo to make our move that much smoother.

This Christmas...

Another winter break from school is soon coming to an end!  What a winter break this was... 

We had quite the Christmas week, I feel happy about all the time spent with family, but it sure did feel like "The Christmas That Never-Ended".   My vacation began on December 20th with Mr. Lock's work Christmas party in the afternoon, and then we had all of our friends over for our annual Christmas get-together -- the last one in our condo.  An ice storm was coming into our area of southern Ontario, but we only had rain where we were fortunately.  I had a great time at Mr. Lock's work do... but that evening, just as we were starting dinner with our friends, I felt incredibly ill.  I ended up with what must have been food poisoning, not a stellar start to my winter break! 

Fortunately, I felt a bit better on the Saturday (phew!).  However, the ice storm had changed some of our plans and my family Christmas party was rescheduled to the 28th.  Mr. Lock and I signed our mortgage paperwork for our house on December 21st, but other than that I mostly laid around and tried to get some strength back after being so sick the night before.

That evening, the ice storm caused quite a few power failures... fortunately, not for us.  However, Mr. Lock's parents ended up losing power from Saturday, December 21st... until Christmas night.  By Christmas Eve, we convinced them to come stay at our condo and we went to stay at my parents house.  We had a really nice Christmas Eve with my family, full of the usual traditions (and a brief visit with some very good friends before dinner).  Christmas morning, Mr. Lock headed back to our condo so they could have a make-shift Christmas morning as a family, he was coming to get me again that evening for dinner at his Aunt and Uncle's house.

Well, Christmas just wasn't meant to be for the Locks.... what a fiasco!  Christmas morning, rather than opening gifts and having their traditional brunch, the Locks had to go to Toronto and help out Mr. Lock's brother and his wife -- who had returned from a trip to New York, only to sleep for a couple of hours and then have the radiator burst in their apartment!  What a mess!

We were able to have a really nice Christmas dinner that evening, and were happy when we discovered that the power was restored to the Lock residence that evening by 8 pm.  They slept in our condo for one more night so their home could warm up, and went home on Boxing Day.

Also on Boxing Day, Christmas continued for Mr. Lock and I as we went to my paternal grandparents' house for Christmas with my dad's side of the family.  We had a wonderful day, good food and great company, but we were sad to learn that my dad's uncle had passed away on Christmas morning.  He was older, and ill and in hospice, but we were still sad for the loss of course.  My grandma will miss her brother, as her family was always very close.  The funeral is this weekend, so we'll be back together with family again to celebrate and honour my great-uncle's life.

Then, December 27th came along... it was time for another tradition for the Lock family, a skating party with Mr. Lock's godparents.  It was really fun to spend an hour on the ice, since I don't skate as often anymore as I did growing up.  The 28th, we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for my mom's side of the family Christmas party... glad for better travelling weather compared to the weekend before.  

Then, on the 29th, we were able to get together with Mr. Lock's parents and brother and sister-in-law so that we could have a meal and finally have the Lock's Christmas presents opened that they missed on their mixed-up, crazy, Christmas morning.

It was such a hectic week... full of great food, great company, and an overall wonderful Christmas.  It was just a strange one, lots of events had to be moved around and we needed to make up some family time after the ice storm and power failure.  It was definitely not a traditional Christmas, but as someone getting married and needing to change the Christmas traditions a bit to balance family commitments, it was probably for the best to get us all ready for next year.

Washing Machine Repair... that wasn't.

Friday night I took the time to finish almost all of my laundry.  I just had a load of sweaters left to wash, which I like to wash on a delicate cycle rather than actually hand-washing (it works for me!).  Sunday evening, I decided to finish off the load of sweaters.

The washing machine filled up with water.

The washing machine went silent.

Well, nearly silent with just a slight whirring noise.

We move out of this condo in less than two months.  C'mon!

We tried moving around the knobs and seeing if it would start up again, nothing.  We decided to email our landlord because we didn't want to be responsible for causing any MORE damage by playing around with the machine.  We aren't experts on washing machines, after all!

Our landlord (who is fantastic), called a repair company the very next morning.  Today a repair person came.  I told him what happened (the washing machine was still full of water since it hadn't drained -- I had taken out the sweaters and ended up doing the hand-washing I was originally trying to avoid).

He moves the knob, pulls it out to start... and the washing machine just starts working.  Starts making normal sounds, swishing the cold, leftover water around.  Draining the water.  Working like nothing is wrong at all.  C'mon!

We had to have someone come, because it isn't like we'd know what to do and there was no way I wanted to keep playing around with it for risk of flooding our eighth floor condo unit... but anyway.  Murphy's Law, isn't it?  Once the repair person is standing there, the blasted thing of course works.

Just Like That, Another Month Flies By!

I cannot believe that Sunday is December 1st!!!

I did not MEAN for nearly a month to go by between blog posts, I have no idea where time is going!

It is not less than six months until our wedding day!  May 24th will be here before we know it!

It's nearly the 2 month mark until we move into our house!  I'm getting very excited about that.  We have plenty of work to do to move out of this condo, but the effort will be worth it when our new home is all set up.  I can't wait to see it finished -- hoping the colours of tiles and counters and cabinets we've chosen all work well together!  It will be very exciting to have a brand new house of our very own.  I'm already dreaming of some of the furnishings I hope I can purchase... though of course at first we'll be starting with what we already have, until we feel comfortable with this next financial step of mortgage, additional bills, insurance, etc.

School is going incredibly well this year, but I am sick all the time.  My immune system seems to be fighting stuff off pretty well, as I've only had to take one actual sick day off of work (last week, Wednesday).  However, I seem to finally have a day or two with my energy back, and then I'm back to fighting off something.  This week I've been hit with a sore throat, so we'll see where it goes.  Advil is my best friend right now!  This is what I get for going back to teaching kindergarten and grade one kids!  Germ city.

So, other than fighting off colds, preparing some things for the wedding, and dreaming about how to decorate my new home...there's not much else to report!  Hope all is well for you!

A Low-Key, Productive, Domestic Weekend

Mr. Lock and I have had a very productive weekend.  One of those weekends when you realize you're "such a grown-up now".  It began with meeting up with my parents down town and watching the Toronto Argos play, this was fun and the tickets were freebies because my youngest brother and two of his best friends are Double Blue Crew members (a very cool volunteer job for a fifteen-year-old football fan, working in the Sky Dome doing promo stuff during all Argos home games).  This was a nice way to have a night out, since otherwise our weekend was going to be pretty low-key.

Saturday morning, we took Mr. Lock's car for service and winter tires.  Then, along with his mother, we went to the appliance store where our kitchen appliances are coming from.  When we bought our new home, there was a promo for the fridge, stove, and dishwasher to be included.  We had to go check out the appliances, we decided to upgrade the dishwasher.  It was exciting to get to see what we'll have in our kitchen, they are stainless steel and look pretty nice.  Whirlpool brand, supposed to be energy-efficient.  This is what I think about these days, and I have to say I'm excited for all this "domestic" stuff - not a surprise for anyone who knows me in real life.

Then it was off to IKEA, we had mirror tiles and glass jars to purchase for the centrepieces for our wedding (less than 7 months until the big day!).  Mr. Lock's mother is going to make the centrepieces herself, so we've been gathering together what we need.  This was yet another thing off the wedding To Do list and it felt good to get it done.

Saturday evening, lazy day at home.  We caught up on a bunch of Breaking Bad episodes -- we're still in season two, but made it halfway through the season!  I can see why others found this show so addictive, I feel it now too!

Today, my parents came by in the mid-morning for a cup of coffee and to help us take some bins out of our condo to store at their place until we move.  We've been de-cluttering, and packing up anything we won't need to use over the next three months so that we can a) prepare this small space for new potential renters to come and view it, and b) make moving a bit easier at the end of January.  We're most likely going to have a week where we'll be living back in our parents' homes between the end of our lease in this condo, and when we close on our house on February 7th.

Next, I'm off to run a couple of errands, and then I have my lesson plans and a few activities to prepare for my school week.  It was a relaxing, work around the home, get some necessary errands accomplished kind of a weekend.  As busy as we've been over the past few months (well, since the spring really), this was a nice weekend to have.

Next Saturday we're off to a Beer Pong Tournament*, so at least we're clinging to a few "twentysomethings" activities while we still can. ;-)

*For the record, I'm just an spectator of Beer Pong as I've never enjoyed the taste of beer and I'm assuming I now never will.  I'm also the DD.  I'm pretty much a Mom-without-kids and have been for years, let's call a spade a spade.

Remembering why I love blogging!

On Saturday evening, my good friend Amanda and I met up with a few friends who were in town attending Blissdom - a blogging conference.  I'm such a small time blogger, but some of these ladies, they have really built up their blogs to be something pretty awesome!  I was a bit "star struck", I must say... I recognized quite a few women in the lobby of the hotel where we were meeting Amanda's friends based on their little blog icon.  I could picture their blog headers even if I wasn't sure of their first names, haha.  It was very cool.

I love the online world.  I have for a long time.  Way back when, I enjoyed keeping a journal on "LiveJournal", then later discovered Blogger, and began reading some amazingly hysterical blogs, as well as blogs that provided inspiration or allowed me to peek into life for other people.   I'm highly interested in people, in sociology I suppose.  I've always been the type to be curious about someone's life, just because I'm genuinely interested in hearing how others live, and finding out about different experiences.  I respect and enjoy the fact that we are all so different, yet are in so many ways very similar.

Having a dinner out with some wonderful bloggers reminded me of why I love blogging!  It made me reconsider my time spent away from my blog, and it encouraged me to keep working away at it.  I just enjoy the outlet, the conversation, and the chance to write about whatever is on my mind.  I don't even mind if no one reads my words, the act of getting them out there is very therapeutic just for me anyway!

I look forward to continued connections through social media, and really appreciated that nice experience on Saturday evening!

Check out these great blogs, some wonderful ideas, reviews, giveaways, etc!  Lovely ladies in person, too!

Multi-Testing Mommy
Geek with Style
Shannon's View from Here
Maple Leaf Mommy

P.S. After the dinner date, Amanda and I went line dancing... SO MUCH FUN!  I hadn't been in awhile, but boy did we ever have a great time!  We were able to join in on quite a few dances, and while some of the moves were tricky, we were following along pretty well!  Thanks again for that fun night out, Amanda!