Halloween humbug

Hello... My name is Celena and I am not a fan of Halloween ;) There- I said it! Terrible, I know ;)

See, I used to love Halloween. It was a time to hang out with friends... put on outrageous costumes that we put together ourselves... run around the neighbourhood... get some good candy... and enjoy the spooky spirit. Flash forward to being a mother of 3 boys (when I always imagined that I would LOVE the holiday): it turns out that I don't like it at all :(

Early in October, I always offer to take the boys to Value Village to pick up costumes. This year, Alexander is not into it at all so he doesn't come. The other 2 boys just want me to buy an expensive costume (which I refuse to do because that is way too easy). I propose that we hunt down something that we can be creative with and I get blank looks. We leave the store with some white face goop and a plastic sword. During the next 2 weeks, I ask again: what do you want to be for Halloween? Oliver talks about some cartoon character that I have never heard of... nor can I find him/it/whatever online... and I start to think that he invented the character... but he gets frustrated with me for not knowing him/it/whatever. Nicklas just grunts.

As per tradition, Andreas and I propose to decorate the front lawn. The boys are into it for about 10 minutes.... and then leave to do something else... which leaves Andreas and me to finish it ourselves. And this is usually the day before Halloween. And then we have to take it all down 24 hours later... by ourselves ;) This year, we were going to do it today... but it is pouring down :(

Unfortunately, we have NO kids left in our neighbourhood so trying to go trick or treating with others usually involves having to arrange something.... and none of the boys want to hang out with the same kids...and no one ever remembers what time we had agreed upon for pick up time. So I end up sitting in our car, looking creepy ;)

All this for about 3 hours of trick or treating... and a stash of candy that requires hiding if I ever want to get them to eat anything else.... and I usually forget where I put it... and find it a year later when most of the chocolate is kind of grey... or I eat it the night they come back with it... which is even worse ;)

And this year, Halloween falls on a Tuesday... with school at 8am the next day... that usually involves a sugar hangover ;)

Happy Halloween! ;) Wish me luck ;)

Please put on your sweater and jacket!

This morning, I kind of lost my marbles...

Around 5:30 am, I took the dogs out. It was cold... Not a snow/ice/freezing kind of cold but a "you-will-need-a-long-sleeve-shirt-and-jacket" cold. So, when the boys got up, I told them that they will- imagine this- need a long sleeve shirt/sweater and a light jacket AND that they could take the light jacket when it got warmer. Predictably, the boys all thanked me for my concern and put on the requested sweater and light jackets. HAHAHAHAHAHA! WRONG! Not only did I have to repeat myself 9 times (yes, I counted) but I had to deal with 1) blank expressions that signified a clear lack of understanding about sweaters and light jackets and 2) arguments about having to wear BOTH a sweater and a long sleeve jacket.

I am so unreasonable :P We were also late in getting to school because it took us that long for the boys to understand that I was not kidding.. but that is a whole other blog post.

Actually, I am being unfair to Alexander who put on his long sleeve shirt with a hoodie... BUT, in his head, he only put on the long sleeve shirt because he wears his soccer hoodie even in the middle of the summer so it does not count ;) It is now considered to be more of a second skin than an actual item of clothing designed to keep you warm ;)

Oh yeah- did I mention that Andreas is out of town until tomorrow evening? ;) He is in Winnipeg for a conference... where there is snow already... I bet that he was wearing his sweater and jacket ;)

Happy Friday! xox

The jacket belongs on your body and not on the floor!

Sunday in the sun

Lately, Alexander and Nicklas are really into football (American style). I would actually put Alexander in the obsessed category but, heck, I am not a football person so I probably don't appreciate it enough ;) So, in light of this new found interest, when I saw Montreal Alouettes tickets (our pro league) being sold for a school fundraising activity, I jumped on them. Luckily for us, instead of the usual crappy late October Montreal weather, we were blessed with 22C and sun. Even if you aren't a fan of the game (still not sure of my own status), you could still enjoy the beautiful weather outside.
Despite the TOTAL loss of the Als, we had a great day. Here are a few photos of the game, courtesy of Andreas because he hates the picture quality of my phone ;)

Happy Monday to you all xox

Before and after

Sometimes the progress from "before" to "after" is a good one... other times, it can be really frustrating ;) Over the past few days, a good before/after is our new kitchen island... a frustrating one is the finally empty laundry basket that stays empty for a total of about 5 seconds... :P

Happy Saturday evening to you all xox

Before....

.... and after!

I have seriously wanted this for years now! Happy "after" :)

Finally, an empty laundry bin....

.... that gets filled up again in 5 seconds :( Bad "after"! ;)

Cool Canadian Music

This post is in honour of Gord Downie, who was the lead singer of the band Tragically Hip. He passed away last night at age 53. If you live in Canada, Tragically Hip songs probably made up a good part of your "life soundtrack". I first discovered them while driving across Canada. I think I picked up their tape (yes, tape.... cassette tape) at some Northern Ontario roadside gas station/store/hotel/bathroom. Every time I hear their music, I see the landscape passing by and a feeling of Canadian pride in my heart.

RIP Gord Downie...  you made some pretty cool music.

Cold and early morning

I had a meeting today at 8:30am so, to make it in on time, I have to be on a pre-7:00am train. A little too early in my books ;) It was also the first day of sock weather... and, in my rush to get out of the house, I noticed that my socks- although both black- were still mismatched. Typical ;) Not sure if I should celebrate the sock weather... or cry about it ;)

Hope you all had a great day xox

Fall feelings

It has been busy... as usual... but I still think of this blog often. Actually, I write posts... but only in my head... and they never seem to make it as an actual entry ;)

Tonight is the first night that Andreas started bringing our plants inside. Although it is definitely more cold than a few weeks back (like when we had weather like this), it is still pretty green... please read: MUCH better than white ;)

Over the weekend, we finally rearranged our living room/dining room and kitchen area. Andreas originally said that he didn't want to make the changes... but I won... finally... and now we have a real dining room again :)

To make up for my blog neglect, here are a few pictures from the last week or so. Wishing you all much love from Montreal xox

<3

Thankful

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving... For readers who are not aware of it, our Thanksgiving is much earlier than the American one. Maybe because it can be so darn cold that we needed to get our crops in earlier ;) Actually, it is as cold in the US as it is here, so you can tell that I just made the other reason up ;) Maybe we just wanted to be different ;)
Anyway, in honour of our Thanksgiving (see.. we spell "honour" differently here too... again, maybe just to be different? ;) ), I would like to take a quick moment before my family comes over to write about some things that I am thankful for:

1) My wonderful husband... yes, he comes first because- without him- I would not have item #2

2) My 3 beautiful (and bratty) boys

3) My extended family. Although I don't mention them often on the blog, I have wonderful family here, in Sweden, and- more recently "rediscovered"- in Germany.

4) My wonderful friends. I am genuinely blessed because most of them actually "get" me... and, if they don't, they pretend it doesn't matter anyway ;)

5) Lovely autumn weather. I love autumn and it just seems slower this year. Yum!

6) My job... I do love it... even if I get emails from students on Sunday mornings... when it is a holiday... and they expect an answer NOW ;)

7) My house... even though it is small, it is filled with love :)

8) Health... because we often take it for granted... until we don't have it anymore.

9) The ability to turn on... and off... our internet ;)

10) Soccer... because it keeps me sane... even more than wine (which should be on this list too!)

11) Wine... because it also keeps me sane....

12) All of you who share in my day to day xox

Still green.... <3

Cosy!

Look... they are actually playing outside... together.... because I turned off the internet ;)

The other 2 were still playing football so I didn't want to interrupt them for this photo. Oliver humoured me... and he wanted so show off his "party shirt" ;)