Monday, January 23rd, 2017
Trains and visits from grandma
Today my mom (whom my kids call Vó Bia) came to stay for a 5-day visit. It’s been a while since she was able to come from London, ON to Kingston, ON, so we were looking forward to her coming to see us. We picked her up at the train station, then headed straight to the YMCA for the kids’ swimming and jump rope lessons. Dan met us there, and I headed out to grab some pizzas, because we didn’t have time to make anything to bring with us for dinner.
It’s a busy day on Monday nights – we have swimming lessons at 5:00 and then K-girl has jump rope at 6:20, so we don’t get home ‘till after 7:40 p.m. most Monday nights. That means we have to bring something to eat, and we usually have dinner in between swimming and jump rope. So today’s nice thing was having Vo Bia along to see the kids’ swimming lessons, and the ability to pick up a ready-to-go pizza and share it with Vó Bia and the rest of the family while chatting about our day.
Tuesday, January 24th, 2017
Cookies!
Today was the first full day of mom’s visit, and we got to share our homeschooling time with her, which was really nice. After we finished our seat work, we decided to make cookies, both because it’s fun, but also because I had left over icing and sprinkles from the party on the weekend, and I thought it’d be fun (and less wasteful) to use it to decorate cookies. We made yummy sugar cookies, but we used whole wheat flour to make them just a wee bit healthier (well, it’s pretty hard to make sugar cookies healthy, but at least we tried!) It still tasted really good. After the cookies cooled, we decorated them and had a yummy treat. It was fun.
Today’s nice thing is having yummy treats and getting a chance to express creativity at the same time.
Wednesday, January 25th, 2017
Mightier fingers and great books
Today’s nice thing is that I went back to the hand clinic, and it turns out I’ve made great progress with my finger. It’s improved 10 degrees on extension and over 15 degrees on flexion, which is really good for just two weeks of working on it super hard. I’m doing the exercises they gave me, plus they also gave me a daytime and a nighttime splint. The daytime one I wear three times a day for 30 minutes, and then I wear a different one overnight. This time they also gave me a second daytime splint to alternate with the previous one, and I can wear the two, alternating, 4 times a day. I can almost completely flex the finger now, though it’s still a bit painful. I still have work to do for extension, although I’ve made great progress. The splints help with extension. I’m pretty happy with the treatment and with my progress.
The other nice thing is that mom is here, so I didn’t have to worry about arranging childcare for my appointment –which is great, since the appointment ran late. But the nice thing about that is that I used the time to read more from Refuse to Choose
And finally, yet another nice thing is that I got to take mom out to a pub and share a couple of half pints and mozzarella sticks. The service wasn’t great and the mozzarella sticks weren’t much better, but we still had a really good time just hanging out and chatting about homeschooling philosophies, tattoos, and all kinds of other things.
For today, the nice things are good books, good company, good medical care, flexibility (in more ways than one), and having a whole hour to myself.
Thursday, January 26th, 2017
Deep fried mozzarella – so bad, yet so good.
Several nice things today.
I took a tumble on the ice last week and hurt my wrist and elbow. My wrist is still a bit sore. Today’s nice thing is being able to get a free x-ray to make sure everything is OK. Plus, no wait time. I was in and out of the x-ray clinic within 15 minutes. Awesome.
I took my mom with me to do errands today, so we could spend a little bit more time together. After getting the x-ray, I took her to get the best mozza sticks in town – Queen’s Pub, hands down. So another nice thing for today is hanging out at my alma mater and having a super delicious treat. If you live in Kingston and are a Queen’s grad, or know a student or a Queen’s alumnus/alumna, get your behind to the Queen’s Pub and try out their mozza sticks. They’re heavenly. The pub only allows people in who are students, graduates, or who are with one of those people, so you can’t just walk in on your own, unfortunately.
Friday, January 27th, 2017
Cargo trains and childhood songs
Today was the last day of my mom’s visit. We got to hang out with mom in the morning, and then me and the kids took her to the train station. The kids got to see a cargo train pass by, and we sang some Brazilian songs in the car. It was fun.
Today’s nice thing is intergenerational fun times.
Another nice thing was snuggles and dancing in the kitchen. Dan had an upbeat (for blues, anyway) song playing, and we got to dance in the kitchen. Then I danced with my kids, too. Life is good.
Thank you to Dream Big Printables for this post’s great image. Check our their awesome art.