#900!

This is my #900 blog post! Wow! When I first started my blog on January 20, 2014 (see here), I honestly had my doubts about being able to keep it going. Actually, I had started another blog about a year before but it had fizzled out after about 8 posts so my track record was not very encouraging ;) Looking back through my blog, I am especially impressed that I had actually tried to do a post every single day in 2014. Now, I am lucky if I can put enough brain cells together to manage a post every week (but who is counting?) ;) Seeing my boys grow up in my posts, I am very happy that I was able to capture a bit of our family's history and revisit a bit of our "day to day" along the way <3

Thank you for coming to visit! I have made some great friends through these pages. Hope to see you around at the end of the next 900 :)

Have a great day! PS: I will post an update to our Hallowe'en tomorrow... ha! Let's see how this one goes ;)

xox

Ten random autumn facts

Today is post #899. Can you believe it? Even though it has been slow lately, I am having as much fun in Blog Land as I did at post #8 ;)

Here are my ten random autumn facts:

1) Autumn is always bittersweet for me... I love the crisp air, wearing cosy sweaters, fresh apples, the golden tone of the sunlight... but, knowing that winter is up next, I get a bit sad at the same time.

2) Marijuana has been legal in Canada since October 17 and we still have long line ups outside the stores..

3) Due to the line ups mentioned in random fact #2, we are facing a Canadian "Pot Predicament", meaning that the stores are literally running out of stock. Seriously ;) We couldn't see that one coming ;)

4) Hallowe'en stresses me out. The boys are never organized, never know what they want to dress up as, never know who they want to go out with and, if they finally figure it out, the evening always results in me driving to 50 different pick up/drop off locations and having to listen to fights about candies. Can we just skip it? ;)

5) One of my favourite fall activities is to walk through piles of leaves. I did it as a kid... and still do it now ;)

6) It makes me sad to put away our trampoline. It is always a good place to send the boys when they need to burn off steam!

7) I could never figure out why Quebec's mandatory winter tire law is from December 15 until March 15. I mean, does the person who made up this law actually LIVE here? Really dumb!

8) Speaking of winter tires, we just had them put on one of our vehicles. The other is has an appointment for the change. I am a bit neurotic about tire changes.

9) The older I get, the more I appreciate my slippers ;)

10) Today, at Nicka's football game, I found myself making a mental note to buy some of those hand warmer things.


Happy Saturday evening to you all xox

Parenting a teenager

One of the reasons why I keep this blog is to be able to revisit various points in the life of our family. When I started it in January 2014, Oliver was 3, Nicka was turning 7 and Alexander had just turned 9. A lot has happened since then and the boys have grown out/are growing out of their "little boy" years. This definitely makes blogging about them a bit more difficult because, instead of cute conversations, now I am often greeted with grunts and eye rolls (they still love me though 😉). The son that has transformed the most, in my opinion, has been Alexander. He has gone from a small boy into a young man..... a young man who leaves dishes in his bedroom.... who has football shoes so stinky that they can be used as a lethal weapon... who does not care what clothes he puts on for school... who thinks washing hair is grossly overrated... who thinks a full meal at McDonald's should be considered a light snack... who enjoys the fact that he now is a good head taller than me... who still, on occasion, comes up to me for a hug and a cuddle.

Random quote from the internet that is so perfect

A light snack ;)

A rare moment where he allows me to take a photo ;)

Legal

Starting today, marijuana is now legal in Canada. Apparently, we are only the second country in the world to have legalized marijuana (after Uruguay... go figure). I have to say it is kind of funny how people are so panicked about it... after all, we did legalize alcohol again in the 1920's (in Canada... and excluding PEI) and survived that... relatively speaking. Anyway, as much as I agree with the legalization, I did not have the urge to join the 5 million people in line to buy pot.... nor do I think that I will in the future (Disclaimer: I will, however, continue to buy wine... a lot of wine).
Although we have been talking about the legalization for what seems like forever, it still was a bit funny to see one of our local "pot boutiques", or the SQDC (see: https://infocannabis.saq.com/en/), open up and ready for business on my way to work today. Seriously, yesterday, it was just a storefront with paper in the window. Today, it seemed to be the most popular place on earth... not just because of the patrons that lined up around the block but because there was most known news sources- from Canada and international- parked in front of it and literally every second person was carrying a microphone for interview purposes.
What do I think about it? I support it. Would I use it? Most probably not. Am I worried for my children? Knowing my sons, if people my age go in there, it cannot possibly be cool. Am I good with that last concept? Yes. The only one thing that kind of bothers me is that I have to admit that I am not cool ;)

Happy October 17th... an eventful day in Canada.... xox

The LONG line up... funny that there is a chip truck parked nearby ;)

The SQDC... I think "pot boutique" sounds better ;)

The strangest Saturday night...

Last night, I had appointment to get an MRI done at our local hospital. Apparently, the evening MRI sessions are fairly ordinary because the technicians have to be there in case of emergency anyway. So, rather than just having the machines and technicians sit there, routine non-emergency MRIs are booked fairly late in the evening. Despite the procedure sounding pretty drastic, I only had it done for the same arm/shoulder injury that I have since February. 

Anyway, let me tell you that it was the strangest Saturday night that I ever had... and I had some pretty strange Saturday nights ;) Firstly, there is a lot of construction going on in Montreal. This means that I had no idea on how to get to the hospital and was faced with a bunch of detours that made absolutely no sense and took about 45 minutes more than it should. Secondly, the hospital was dark and deserted, which made it look really creepy. It is not the building itself because, on a normal day, I sometimes go there for work meetings so it is pretty familiar. When it is dark and empty, I totally don't recognize it anymore. I think that, from the parking lot to the actual imaging department, I must have crossed the path of 4 people (and 2 of them were cleaners). 

After having arrived late because of the detours and random traffic because of nothing, I found myself in a dark, abandoned looking waiting room with 3 other people. The only reason why we knew we were in the right place was a sign which essentially said "You are in the right place. Please don't leave." Hmmm.... reassuring ;)

The night only became stranger when I was asked about metal plates in my head and pacemakers in my heart. The technician then asked me to put on a very fashionable gown and blue slippers that were very suitable for my meeting with the "alien pod". This was my first MRI and, honestly, I could have sworn that I was making contact with distant extraterrestrial worlds. About 5 minutes into the procedure (which already felt like 5 hours), I had to stop myself from laughing because it was too freaking strange. They had strapped me to the "bed" and put some funny looking headphones on me to "block out" the most bizarre sounds that I ever heard. I would not have been surprised if I was only there because some alien had recruited me for some spacey experiments.

After the 2 week 20 minute procedure, the weird sounds finally stopped and I was allowed to come out of the machine. I said happily thanks and good-bye to the technicians, one of whom I was sure asked me about how I liked life on Mars ;) The place was as deserted on my way out as on my way in (actually, it was more deserted because the other 3 people who had initially waited with me had left already). Although I had taken absolute care to park as close to the elevators as possible (so I could find it again), it seemed that my car was much further away than I had remembered ;) Decidedly, this was one of the most bizarre Saturday nights! I wonder if my test results will include a Martian letter of rejection ;) 

Hope you all have a nice rest of the weekend xox

So many people ;)

Don't be too jealous of my fashionable outfit ;)

OK... a bit creepy...

Usually, there are line ups in front of the elevators!

Where is my car? ;)

An autumn postcard from Montreal

I know.. I know.. I have been pretty crappy at blogging lately. It is just that my "to do" list always seems to have way too many things on it... and I never seem to have the time- or sanity- to actually cross items off. To show you how much I have missed doing regular... or fairly regular... blog posts, I wanted to send you all an autumn postcard from Montreal xox

Will be back soon....