Pro's and Con's

These days at home have provided some unique opportunities. We don't really have a "busy" life but all the same, with our few options removed (virtual piano lessons, no AWANA, no hockey) we've been spending a lot more time together as a family.

Some of my favourite things about our social distancing:

• Campfire for supper
• Family movie nights (Favourites, so far: The Blindside, Despicable Me 1 & 2, Big Miracle, The Sound of Music)
• Jigsaw Puzzle
• Slot cars
• Baking 
• Playing catch on the front lawn
• Family board game tournament
• Building a fort with Daddy
• Snacking (Snacks become very important when you can't leave your house)
• Video chats with family & friends
• Watching The Phantom of The Opera on YouTube
• Working from home/no commute 
• Daily check-ins from my Aunt Penny

 Things I am not liking about the current isolation:

• Wearing all the hats - mum, employee, teacher, entertainment director, playmate, cook
• How the days blur together
• Time flies - people are posting about being bored or having all the projects in their house accomplished. I am not one of those people. By the time I finish working for the day and helping Cody with school assignments, practicing piano and doing his DynaRead lesson (for extra literacy help) I need to start making dinner and then cleaning up from dinner. Then I'm coaxed into "family time" until he goes to bed and I'm so pooped by then that I'm ready for bed myself! 
• How much I'm enjoying my casual clothes and not doing my hair, makeup!
• Proximity to the snacks
• Anxiety, fear, uncertainty

Isolated Thoughts

I have been wanting to sit down and record my thoughts for the past few weeks, but it feels like life has been so busy! I've been working from home since March 13th and now have Cody home with me doing school. So, our days are busy. However, I want to record my thoughts about how I'm feeling during this pandemic.

On March 12th life seemed normal. I took my computer home with me from work because I typically work from home on Fridays. I had plans to take a vacation day on Monday as it was my birthday. We had been hearing about the caronavirus for several months but it seemed so distant. However, it was now creeping into Canada and impacting our daily lives. At the end of the day, we found out schools would be closed an additional 2 weeks for March break. I thought this was because of people going away on March break and they wanted travelers to wait the 2 weeks after leaving the country. We went to hockey that night and even had some friends join us for Cody's game. We talked about Cody being home for an extra 2 weeks and how we would handle that. We thought maybe grandparents would be involved and they offered to help out since they're retired.

Very quickly, things changed. By Sunday morning, I had been reading about "flattening the curve" and "social distancing" and realized we needed to cancel all plans and stay home. Unfortunately, that meant delaying a double date with my best friend to celebrate my birthday and pancakes at Cracker Barrel with my parents. I also cancelled a hair appointment I had that week. Although, it didn't matter because by the time those dates came, the province was in a state of emergency and restaurants and entertainment industries were closed (except for take out).

The first week I had a wide range of emotions. Fear topped the list. Fear of this unknown virus. Fear of financial stability. Fear of how life was about to change. During the first week I consumed a lot of news about what was going on and that didn't help. Cody spent March break with his biological mom as it was her turn on our rotation. It was hard not having him at home and we were looking forward to his return on Friday night. When he arrived, he headed straight for the shower and we washed all of the stuff he had with him.

The beginning of week two meant I was working half days while taking half vacation days - which will last 4 weeks. I made a schedule for Cody to keep him busy as his teachers were busy learning technology that could be used to keep the kids learning from home. He build a lot of Lego projects, listened to a lot of Adventures in Odyssey and enjoyed some video chats with his cousins. During this time I kept praying and giving over my anxiety to God....but I kept snatching it back. There was a lot of things to worry about - the health of my family, my extended family and friends. Job security - Devin & I are both working, currently, but my brother and sister were both laid off - along with countless others across the country. I am grateful that Devin is working and providing for his family but it does concern me that he is "out there" each day.

And, of course, we were still renovating our kitchen! Fortunately, we were in the end stages and the light at the end of the tunnel was shining. However, our family room had become a storage area, kitchen prep, cooking area, dining room and now it was my office and Cody's classroom. That was really starting to get to me - eating amongst keyboards and headphones each night. I felt like I wanted to burst into tears at any moment. However, Cody and I were spending some great time together - doing online art classes, learning to cook, playing chess and walking around our neighbourhood.

By Thursday of week 2 his teacher had a Google Classroom set up and Cody started doing e-learning. I've been impressed with how well he has adapted. I'm also very grateful for all of the efforts of the teaching staff at Woodstock Christian School for keeping our kids engaged and learning. It has been challenging, to be sure, to work from home and help him with school stuff. He is far from independent when it comes to learning but we are figuring out our new normal and trying to be patient with each other.

Fortunately, we were able to get our countertops installed. I wasn't sure how that would go - was it an essential service? Turns out that it was, since we were without a functioning kitchen and the order had already been started. I was apprehensive about allowing people into our home, but we decided it needed to be done as we couldn't live like this indefinitely. They were in and out in 45 minutes and we wiped everything down. It felt GREAT when Devin got the plumbing connected and I could cook in my new kitchen!

Continued prayer has helped me to accept what is happening around us and keep in mind that God is in control I can trust him in all things and surely this qualifies. It has been encouraging to connect with friends through video chats and attend church through Facebook live. The cool thing is, I can get encouragement from pastors from other churches I've been connected with over the years because they're on Facebook too!

It's interesting to think back over the thoughts I've had in the last three and a half weeks and how they have morphed and changed. Random things to remember:

• Initially I assumed everything I touched outside our house was covered in the virus and washed my hands A LOT. Which led to using more moisturizer. And not wearing my engagement/wedding rings so they weren't constantly gooped up.
• Social media posts flooded in about signs of the virus...one of the things I read was that you should be able to hold your breath for 10 seconds without coughing, so I would hold my breath and count to 10. Whew...ok good. I'm ok. I'm not sure what I was thinking since I was not leaving the house except to walk to the mailbox!
• Gas prices are incredibly low....like 65 cents. I had filled up on March 14th and I've not driven anywhere since then! So, our monthly gas budget is doing great but it's a shame to miss out on those cheap prices.
• There are TONS of free online resources for people spending time at home - virtual tours of museums and zoos, online art classes, audiobooks, etc. 
• We had done so many great family activities - boardgames, movies, playing catch, jigsaw puzzle, and walking around the neighbourhood.

I'm sure I will have more updates in the days and weeks to come but until now, these are my thoughts.

Our Kitchen Reno - A Video Journey

When we started the process, I decided to document the journey with video updates. I knew I would appreciate looking back on these snippets to see how much things really changed! By default, Devin is my host!

Kitchen Reno!

Our first impression of our house when walking in with our real estate agent was:

• the walls need to be painted (they were a dark burgundy colour)
• the light over the table needed to go (wooden/fabric contraption)
• the kitchen layout and finishing choices was horrific - we would need to renovate

In fact, Vikki took me aside when we were seriously considering buying the house to say "Are you sure you want that kitchen? There's not even a dishwasher in it!" We had already decided that we would renovate the kitchen so I said I would wash dishes by hand until we did that. Ha ha ha. Looking back, I realize how naive I was! After living in the house 2 months, we were installing a dishwasher - albeit in an very awkward location.

We opted to finish the basement before tackling the kitchen. Although this turned out to be the right decision, our reasoning wasn't all that reasonable. LOL. We thought we'd get more "bang for our buck" by doing the basement first. And while we got lots of "bang" (family room, spare bedroom, finished closet space, washroom and several utility/storage areas) it was more "buck" than we had initially thought. However, we are thrilled by the results and after enjoying the space for the past 2 years it was time to take on the kitchen.

We decided last winter that we would start just after Christmas. That gave us pretty much a year to design and plan as well as save up some money! We had already decided on Ikea cabinets based on several friends that had done an Ikea kitchen. Now we just needed to navigate their software and start designing. It's fun to look back on the early designs - which basically started as what we had plus an island. We played around with moving the door to the laundry room, moving the stove, moving the fridge etc. but the game changer was deciding to close in the awkward window! That's when things really started to take shape.

I'm so glad we made this choice. Initially it felt like a "big deal" to close in a window but after talking to a few people we determined it was not as big of a deal as we thought and it improved the layout of the kitchen immensely! We closed the window in October in anticipation of wintery weather in January.

There was lots of research involved in coming up with our final choices:

• trips to Ikea
• browsing Pinterest
• attending the "Tour of Renovations" put on by the homebuilders' association
• trips to local flooring, tile, lighting, etc. stores
• soliciting advice from friends & family that have done a kitchen reno

On December 27th we started taking all the stuff off the walls and moving the contents of the cupboards to the basement where we would have our makeshift kitchen. (Remember when I said we made the right choice about finishing the basement first? Ya. I can't imagine doing this project and not having anywhere to BE when the upstairs is in such turmoil) On December 30th Devin started taking down the hideous wall and we've been going ever since!

I had no idea how much this project would infiltrate every room of the house. Displaced items from the livingroom in the office, the spare bedroom dismantled to access plumbing and electrical, the freezer room (where lots of extra kitchen stuff was being stored) spilled into the family room to access the electrical panel and run wiring and pipes. I believe our bedrooms are the only respite we have! But, it's finally coming together and the end result will be worth it. We're so excited! (And I'll be thrilled to be able to cook real food again and get rid of my dishpan hands!)

The Speech

Do you remember fifth grade? Do you remember the terror of doing an oral presentation? I do! I was in Mrs. Babcock's class and my topic was the Olympic torch relay. My sister Connie had carried the torch leading up to the Calgary 88 Olympics so I had a first hand account. I practiced and practiced and when the day came, I clutched my cue cards tightly as I stood in front of my class and delivered my speech.

Well, Cody is in grade 5 and he is currently working on his oral presentation. They had to choose an interesting person to research and deliver a speech about. He decided to go with his love of cars and chose the president of GM. I was curious - was that the current president? The first president? What was his name and what had he done that was interesting? With a little coaching, Devin persuaded him to change lanes and focus on Elon Musk - the driving force behind the Tesla. (Cody points out a Tesla any time he sees one!)

Initially I thought this assignment would kill us all! The research (50 jot notes required), outline, rough draft, final draft and finally memorizing...it all seemed like too much. Especially for a kid that struggles with literacy. But, you know how to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So, we broke down the tasks and got busy. Dynaread got put on hold as we focused on this project and slowly, it started to take shape.

Learning about Elon Musk has been fascinating! What an amazingly brilliant mind. He was reading five hours per day when he was ten years old and taught himself computer programming. He has gone on to develop the company that became PayPal which was bought by Ebay and then used that money to fund SpaceX. He is using abstract and interesting methods to make fiction reality in so many areas - space travel, internet satellites, transportation tubes and so much more than can fit into a grade 5 speech. Also, an interesting fact I learned is that he inspired the Robert Downey Jr. character for Iron Man. Cool!

Cody has embraced this project and has exceeded my expectations! Once we had a final draft ready, I had him read it from the paper 3 or 4 times per day. I told him this would help familiarize him with the words and help him get quicker. My sneaky ulterior motive was that it would help him memorize it without realizing it. And, guess what? It worked! On Sunday night I asked him to say as much as he could without the paper and he made it through with only a few prompts. We were both really excited :) I hope that when he delivers the speech in front of his class, he's not too nervous to include all the great expression that he uses when he does it at home.

We have survived the speech of grade five. Surely, we can take on anything now.

Christmas 2019

It's the most wonderful time of the year. (you're singing it now aren't you?) I love Christmas and now that I have a family to celebrate with, it makes it that much more sweet. This year we squeezed in so many fun things to celebrate the season. It was filled with wonderful memories I've tucked away for years to come!

• We joined Abby in KW for a tour of lights and live nativity
• Celebrated with our Hamilton family at the annual Christmas Tree Party
• Annual Christmas shopping with Cody for Mummy/Daddy
• Enjoyed the Ladies' Tea at our church (with Devin & Cody serving)
• Celebrated at the farm with the Mills family
• Headed to Niagara for the Cooksey Christmas - complete with a trip to Niagara On The Lake, dinner at the Mandarin and the Christmas lights in Niagara Falls
• Feasted on the Festive Special with the Drysdale clan
• Took in a festive performance of Mary Poppins at The Grand Theatre on Christmas Eve afternoon
• Christmas brunch with two sets of grandparents
• Loads of Christmas movies, special festive snacks and all the twinkly lights!

Camping Adventures

This summer we've had the opportunity to test out our tent trailer which we bought last year. It's been so fun to spend time together, relaxing, playing games, riding bikes, cooking our supper over a campfire... It's the stuff family memories are made of!

I'm looking forward to many more Drysdale adventures!

Why I Broke Up WIth Young House Love

It was the mid 2000's and I was starting to look at buying a house. I was certainly taking more interest in my decor than I had before as I was moving out of college-shabby-chic and into a more mature-adult-phase of my life. I would search the world wide web for tips on decorating and I happened upon John & Sherry's blog - Young House Love.

They had lots of great ideas for DIY projects to do on the cheap but looked good. Also tips on decorating, furniture placement, etc. Things I needed to learn. So, I followed along. So did my friend Jodi, so we would talk about their latest project as if they were friends of ours.

When they put out a book, I dutifully bought it! I even got it signed. They were such an inspiring success story - turning simple DIY projects into a money-making blog. When I bought my first house, I used many tips and projects from Young House Love. They were around my age and stage of life, so it worked well.

Somewhere along the line, my following trailed off and I heard they "took a break" from the blog and disappeared from the internet. You could still look up old stuff on their blog, but they were nowhere to be found otherwise. Then, they came back. They started a podcast. They bought a beach house to renovate. They stopped DIYing and hired a contractor. They became a "home makeover" blog rather than DIY projects. Obviously they were making bank and bought a duplex beside the beach house so they had more content to share. And share they did. Instagram was on fire with posts of their progress.

At first, I found it kinda fun to follow along. The before/after pics were neat. Sherry's voice irritated me on the podcast and the content seemed pretty shallow, so I didn't bother subscribing. And the more I paid attention to what they were doing, the more disheartened I became. The CONSTANT "swipe up" on Instagram was my first clue that they were falling out of my favour. A couple that previously boasted a tight budget, cooking at home for a birthday, economical ways to make your house look great and chemical-free cleaning products for the home/personal care suddenly became the couple that was constantly showing off what they ate at a restaurant, complaining that meal kits are too much work, and as I mentioned earlier - hiring out many of the projects. Sherry became a fashionista - despite her claims that she has a "minimalist" wardrobe and constantly brags about it, she links to her favourite jeans, shoes, bathrobe, tank top, jacket, etc. multiple times a week. (ie: she gets money from other people buying stuff that she's flogging). For someone that claims to be ultra low maintenance, she's giving tutorials on Instagram on using fake nails, fake eyelashes and what kind of mascara she uses.

In fact, I don't even think they care about home renos anymore. Clearly they can make uber money by swiping up and she can do that from the comfort of her couch or walking down the street. Out of curiosity, I checked Instagram before writing this and she was showing off a pair of shoes she found at a thrift store. Now, you can't link to an online site that sells these shoes because....they're from a thrift store. Not to worry though.... Sherry found a similar pair from Nine West and linked them so you can "swipe up" and have your very own pair so you can be just like Sherry.

I can't say I've ever felt the need to write about another blogger before but I've just reached my max of how annoying this couple is. And what really irritates me is that they keep making money from all the people that click and swipe the stuff they''re pushing.

I'm done with the Petersiks. They need to go and get a real job and join the real world.

Mummy Date Nights

We started a tradition in our family of having some one-on-one time with Cody - Mummy date nights and Daddy date nights. It's a good chance for us to connect and talk, have fun together and discretely teach him some important life lessons :)

Recently we've had a few fun times on our date nights including dining at Subway, painting pottery, seeing Toy Story 4 and Lion King movies!

It's been a fun summer and I love spending time with this kid. He is the cherry on top of my already-sweet life. <3 p="">

The Rocking Chair

Most kids will have similar memories to this. Visiting your grandparents meant stepping into a home where the furniture rarely changed and there was a familiar sense of hominess. I had a similar childhood.

Visiting Grammie & Grandad meant feeling the warmth of the stove in the front room. It meant hearing the tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock GONG from the clock. It meant looking at the photos proudly displayed on the buffet inside the front door. And, it usually meant Grandad would be relaxing in his favourite rocking chair.

For many years, I never sat in that chair because it was Grandad's chair. After he passed away, Grammie would often sit in it but occasionally, I had the chance to sink into it's soft cushion and be wrapped in it's comfort. I loved that chair.

This is the only photo I can find of the chair previously.

I loved that chair so much that Grammie promised that one day I could have it. And she followed through on her word when she sold her house and moved into an apartment. By that time, the chair was in pretty rough condition. The wood was nicked and scratched, the upholstery had seen better days and it needed a good clean. It also needed a bit of a tune up as it was a bit rickety. But, I had a vision.

Now, just because you have a vision doesn't mean you are motivated to complete the vision immediately! I didn't have the skills nor the money to complete the project so it sat in my garage for quite a while. After a time, it made it's way to my dad's shop where he squared up the frame so it was good and solid. He also gave it a coat of white paint at my request. It stayed in that shop for quite a while.

During this time, Grammie would occasionally ask "did you get that chair done?" She wasn't prodding but she was pleased that I wanted to breath new life into it and was anxious to see the final product. Each time I would have to report "no, I haven't gotten around to it."

We got married three years ago and Grammie made it a goal to attend the wedding. We were elated that she accomplished that goal considering it was a very early morning for her and a bit complicated to get there via special transportation and with one of her workers from the nursing home. She was beaming. She was so happy that I now had a husband AND a family.

She asked me what I would like for a wedding gift as she wanted to get us something special. My response was that her attending the wedding was the only gift I needed. But, of course, that didn't sit well with her. She wanted to give us something. I thought about it and I had an idea. I suggested she give us some money towards upholstering the rocking chair. We both thought that was a great idea.

Grammie passed away five months after we got married and sadly, she never got to see the chair completed. The chair now sits in our livingroom and is beautifully restored. Special thanks to Rene at Frantic Upholstery for creatively recreating this chair. The new colour and fabric blends in nicely with our furniture but it's a wonderful reminder of past visits to see Grammie & Grandad. I know they would both love to see the chair enjoying a new lease on life.

The Bus Stop

Each morning this is what I start my day with. Most days we haven't had enough time to be grumpy, have a meltdown or get behind, so we are both in a pretty good mood. We drive up to the corner and wait in the car for the school bus and then I continue on my way to work.

Sometimes we use these minutes to practice memory work but sometimes we use it to talk about what happens at recess, who is a good friend at school or (most recently) play "would you rather".

I treasure these moments.

I'm not sure what it is about watching him walk away from the car, but it hits me every time.

1. He's growing up.
2. He is the most precious gift.
3. I am incredibly lucky to have him in my life.

The Kiss

Everyone knows that the big moment at a wedding is when the minister declares "you may now kiss your bride". Usually there is an approving uproar from the attendees as this kiss seals the deal.

On our first anniversary, we returned to the Elm Hurst - where we got married. We had received some gift certificates as wedding gifts and thought it was the perfect place to celebrate one year. It was lovely and much more relaxed than the year before! As we walked around the beautiful grounds, we snapped a few pics - including a kiss in front of the same fountain as "the kiss" the year before.

It has now become a tradition to kiss at the fountain on May 22. I love that we now have 4 photos in our collection and it will continue to grow.

I suppose it's one of the benefits of getting married 10 minutes from home!

Happy Anniversary to us!

I could never understand people that said they loved their spouse more today than the day they married them. That sounded odd and surely I could not love Devin any more than I did on May 22, 2016.

Well, three years later, I'm here to say that it is possible! Each day I fall more in love with him.
God selected this man for me and we fit together perfectly - where he is strong, I am weak; where he is weak, I am strong. And as we both look to God to anchor our relationship - a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Three years have gone by in an instant and at the same time, it feels like we've been together forever. I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life with him. 39 years was a long time to wait, but it was so worth it.