Three Things

 

Three things going on with each of us at the moment:

Q

1. We took Q out of the YMCA after school care and he is walking home on his own now (well really with the multiple kids that head our way after school).  This has only been since school went back in January but it's a game changer.  Now I don't need to worry about getting home from downtown at a particular time to pick him up. A lot less stress, and also some savings, this is the first time since 2012 we haven't been paying for childcare of some sort.

2. He has been keeping up with off-season baseball training to get ready for tryouts at the end of next month. I don't doubt he'll have a spot in the house league (yes they have tryouts for house league since there are limited spots) but he also wants to make the rep team.  

3. He has been good at doing some math and spelling homework when he needs to, but still finds lots of time for the iPad *eyeroll*.

E

1. E is at the end of his first semester of high school.  Instead of exam for three of the four classes, they have culminating projects, so he has been working hard on getting those done.  He has one science exam next week. 

2. He grew a lot since last winter and needed new ski boots, skis (two sets), and snow pants.  Luckily we found his GS skis second hand and they are actually in pretty great shape.  E waxed and tuned them up himself last weekend (with a little guidance from Dave).

3. The kids got a 3D printer for Christmas and E has been great at finding cool stuff to print.  One of his friends wants a mask printed and E is hoping to start a little printing service. 

Dave

1. As I mentioned in my post yesterday about things we outsource, or in our case, don't outsource, Dave repositioned the drain so it goes into the ground instead of running down the middle of the driveway.  It made a big patch of ice and was always so dangerous. 

2. Golf trips aren't that far away.  He is booking one for May and perhaps one for June. 

3. Dave was in Vegas this week for work. He got to stay at the Venetian, which is where I stayed the last time I was there. I know work trips kind of suck but at least his room was nice! 

Me

1. Our focus is on getting our March Break ski trip organized. We are going to France to ski but also spending a few days in Brussels as well. We have booked mostly everything now but still need a hotel in Brussels. 

2. I have made a list of areas to declutter and have made some progress. I weeded out some old clothes from the boys' dressers, the Christmas wrapping paper, and our reusable shopping bag collection.

3. I'm making my way through Emily in Paris and the Taylor Swift documentary.  I like putting on these easy shows. 

Let's Look - Outsourcing

  

Linking up with Shay and Erika for Let's Look Wednesday.

I am looking forward to the various topics they have chosen for this year. Today we are talking about things we outsource without regret.  

Actually we do not do a lot of outsourcing here, Dave and I are usually of the philosophy that if we can do it ourselves, then we should do it. It's not always about saving money but it's also about pride of ownership of your home and belongings and taking responsibility for the choices you've made in your life. 

Common things that are "outsourced" that we do ourselves:

Cleaning - I'm happy that other people hire housekeepers, but I personally cannot do it. It means our house is never 100% clean at one time, but it works for us.  

Ski tuning - With the boys in ski racing it is best to tune and wax their skis every few weeks and certainly before a race.  Dave got all of the equipment and learned how to do it at home, and is teaching E now, and it save so much money. Each tune can be about $75 per pair of skis, and that would be a big expense if we outsourced it. 

Repairs (car, appliance, and home) - We are fortunate that Dave is handy and likes to figure out how to do things himself.  YouTube is an invaluable tool and he will do his research to troubleshoot a problem and has the confidence to fix it himself. He even fixed our friends' dishwasher when we were at their cottage, which was a real lifesaver with ten people in the house!

Car washing, lawn care/gardening, snow removal - This is part of the "pride of ownership" thing I'm talking about. It's our home and car and we want to take care of these things.  

Cooking/meal prep - Where cleaning is not really my thing, cooking and meal prep is. Occasionally I may buy a pre-made item to take to someone's house, and we do certainly order in food and go out to eat, but mostly we do home cooked meals. 

Travel planning - This is another thing I love to do. Once we used a travel agent to book our cruise back in 2011 when we went with my parents and grandparents, and my parents still use a travel agent for their cruises, but I like doing my own research and figuring it all out. Like cooking, I think this is strength of mine.

Tax filing - Our taxes are pretty straightforward, we only have our paycheques and a few investments, so it's easy for me to do this with the tax software. I like filling out forms and organizing papers, so although I stay far away from finance at work, I don't mind doing our simple taxes.  

However there are things that just make sense to have someone else do it for us:

Grocery Orders - Not every time we need groceries, but a couple of times a month, I will order our groceries from Loblaws for pick up. The cost ranges from $1 to $5 so it is certainly cost and time effective. 

Oil Change and Tire Change (for those not living in winter climates, we change our tires twice a year to put winter tires on in early winter and regular tires on in spring) - This is something that Dave used to do but we take it into the shop now. It is difficult to dispose of the old oil and if you don't have rims on the tires, it's impossible to change the tires on your own.

Haircuts - I was able to cut everyone's hair during the pandemic with varying degrees of success, but this is definitely something we don't mind paying someone else to do.

Drywall - Now, this doesn't come up very often, but those times that Dave did some home renovations, it was better to bring in the professional drywallers for the big jobs. They are so good and efficient at mudding and sanding. 

I can't really think of anything else we outsource. Maybe when I read through others' posts I will be reminded of other things we get people to do for us.

Weekend Recap

I went to the office on Friday. I had stayed home on Thursday and didn’t feel very productive so I wanted a change of scenery and went downtown instead.  I did much better there on Friday. We had some brief periods of blue sky and this view of the Canada Life building was framed by the pretty sky.

I got home in time to do a workout before dinner.  We decided to keep it simple and walk up to Kinton Ramen for dinner. 

Q enjoyed his bowl.

And so did E.

We got everything ready for skiing when we got home, which always takes longer than you think it will, but finally Dave and I were able to start the movie Jay Kelly. 

We got up to the ski hill on Saturday morning. They had had some rain the day before but the conditions weren’t bad. I ran into Q on one of my trips up the chairlift.

We did a couple of runs with the kids after their training was over but then hit the road.

We had leftover chili for dinner and then we watched the rest of Jay Kelly. 

Dave was off to Vegas for a work trip the next day so it was just me and the boys skiing. 

It was colder that day and of course we ran into snow on the way up, starting in Barrie. 

Snow was great though!

Q had a practice race along with the rest of the U10s and U8s.  He was pleased with his run and came 8th for the U10 Boys (out of 21).  One of our friends in U8 got 3rd place, not bad for her first race!!

I skied by myself for the afternoon with a goal of doing all of the runs on the Moonstone side.  Then I stopped to see E’s group on the terrain park and found out that one of his teammates had fallen on the jumps and was waiting for the ski patrol to take him down in the sled.  Unfortunately he had to go to hospital with a broken leg. Season over for him, which is too bad, and E will miss his friend. 

We drove through snow again but it was fine. After we got everything put away, I decided to do a bike. Like basketball and hockey players preparing for playoffs and jumping on the bike after a game, I need to prepare for our ski trip so even after skiing all day, I wanted to do more exercise. It was a tough ride but I did it!

Then we ordered pizza for dinner and settled in to watch the Golden Globes. 

I need to see more movies, but I enjoyed the awards show, like usual.  I am always happy to see all of the celebs. 

Meanwhile Dave was in Vegas, he got a few photos from his plane.

 

Sharing Our Lives - Staying Warm

Happy Monday! I am linking up with my blog friends today for the Sharing Our Lives series.  I was a host of this for the past two years but decided to just join as a guest this year.  I was excited to see their list of topics for the year.

To begin for January, we are sharing how we stay warm. I hate being cold so this is perfect for me. I am often concerned with staying warm.  

A few things I like to stay warm:

- Uniqlo base layers with HeatTech.  I mostly wear these for skiing but I will also add them as a layer under my pants when I am going out for a walk.  One layer isn’t always enough. 

- Hand and foot warmers for skiing. But then I realized I could use them off the hill too.  I have worn them with my regular boots when watching a ski race or being outside for long periods of time. 

- Super Puff mittens from Aritizia.

- Space heater under my desk at work.

- Electric blanket.  I especially love to pre-heat my side of the bed with it and then I will turn it off for sleeping.  There are usually a couple of really cold weeks during our winters when I spoil myself with it. 

- Lots of other blankets.  We have lots of blankets on the couches where we watch TV and read. I have a firm belief it is not possible to take a little nap without being covered with something. 

- Fireplace.  We have two nice natural gas fireplaces that come on with a flick of a switch. They warm up the main floor very quickly. 

- Heated floors. Our basement has heated floors and that is where I work from home and my feet stay nice and warm. 

-  A hot drink. Sometimes I make a tea just so I can hold something warm, and drinking the warm liquid helps too. 

- Always being prepared.  There is no bad weather, only bad clothing. I always like to know what the temperature is or what it could be and dress appropriately. I find you’re more likely to end up being cold in spring and fall when you think the weather is warmer than it is, and being caught without enough layers. 

I feel lucky that we live in Canada where although our weather is cold, our buildings are built for it, and we have good windows, insulation, and decent heating systems. I know when other parts of the world experience cold weather, their houses aren’t really equipped for it and it can be hard to get warm at home.

  

Linking up with  Adrienne, Dara, Jen, and Joanne.  

Friday Favourites

Phew, first week back at school and work is always tough, but here we are, it's Friday!

We worked hard to put the house back in order and get the tree and other Christmas decorations taken down.  I like the decorations but it is nice to get the space back, and our tree was pretty crispy.  We were away from the 31st to the 4th, otherwise I would have probably taken it down earlier. 

We also got a bit of snow on Monday to start off the week.  Dave was at the office but I was working from home, so I shovelled after the snow had stopped.  I did pretty well on my own :) I had to send this to show Dave my work. 

I did go to the office on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today.  I enjoyed my cozy new sweater.  

We were disappointed there was no secret episode of Stranger Things, E was very up to date on the various theories and so-called clues and we were on Netflix at 8:00 pm on the 7th, but nothing.  I am happy with the last episode so personally I'm relieved nothing changed. 

Our amaryllis that someone gave us bloomed this week.  I think I'm too Stranger Things obsessed because I'm seeing a resemblance to a demogorgon. 

You can check out my Christmas recap posts here and here.  

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Gratitude Journal Prompts

I found a list of prompts that I will split up over a few months. I always like to challenge myself to think beyond my normal posts, so here we go with this month's questions:

1) What are you most grateful for today, why?

Having my kids safe at home.  There was a terrible tragedy in my hometown this week of a 13 year old boy being mauled by dogs and killed while he was out riding his bike.  I don't really know the family but my heart goes out to them. Everyday we send our kids out into the world and we hope they come home safely at the end of each day.

2) List 5 basic amenities that make your life easier?

Clean water
Grocery stores
Walkable schools
Reliable power grid
Public transit 

3) Name the people in your family you are grateful for.

The problem with making a list is that I may leave someone out inadvertently. I am grateful for each person in my family in different ways.  All are part of who I am. 

Christmas Recap Part 2

You can see Part 1 of my Christmas recap here. 

Christmas morning was finally here! The kids came in to get us at 7:00 am which we said was the earliest time they could come in.

Q is ready to go downstairs!

Santa was here!

Stockings first.

A little Vecna stuffy!

Santa brought the boys a 3D printer. 

Gifts to each other.

New baseball gear for Q, including a custom glove.

We took a break for some breakfast. The casserole E made the day before turned out well. 

Cheers!

Q got this nice blanket from Pottery Barn Kids, it is the coziest blanket! We needed to try it out right away. 

Setting up the 3D printer.  E has access to one at school so he is already familiar with how it works. 

I talked everyone into going for a walk. It was colder than I thought it would be, but the fresh air was nice. 

Q wanted to try out his new glove so he played catch with Dave for a few minutes. 

I had a little nap while watching a movie and E piled up pillows and blankets around me. 

The prime rib ready for the oven. 

Looks good!

My successful Yorkshire Puddings.

I do love a turkey dinner, but prime rib is such a treat too!!

After we got dinner cleaned up, we got downstairs to watch Stranger Things.  The boys were sitting nicely together. 

We had a white Boxing Day the next day.  We shoveled a couple of times and got some sledding in. 

My mom flew home the next day, the 27th, and then we got in the car to drive to Dave’s parents’ house. 

Playing a few games.

There is a new batting cage place nearby their house, so Dave booked some time there on Sunday. It was pouring rain all day so we needed something to do.  This was a great spot and Q got to try out his new bat.

E hit a few balls too (they both did the pitching machine too, just warming up with the tee).

We drove home on Monday morning.  The weather was not great, blowing snow and partially snow covered highways.  That afternoon Dave and I both had work to do (and the next day too).  That night, it was nice to see the tree still lit up.

I like to do the Peloton Top 50 songs rides.  I did the first one on Boxing Day but then I needed to do the other four rides in three days.  

After some meetings on Wednesday, New Year’s Eve, we hit the road for Collingwood to stay with friends for a couple of nights at their cottage.  We have been here in the summer, and it’s so cozy in the winter.  This our bedroom view. 

Having a chat and some wine. 

We sent the kids out to play.  Q came back with wet mittens and cold hands but warmed up quickly.

The big boys coming back from the ice.

He didn't want to wear his snowpants, just a little damp.

The kiddos.

We had raclette for dinner, which was so fun and everyone loved it. 

Then it was hot tub time. 

Running out in the snow and then back into the tub.  I even did this!!

It turned into a bit of a snowstorm, so the big boys came back like this:

We watched a bit of the hockey game and then tuned into the last episode of Stranger Things.

The next day, New Year’s Day, we went to Blue Mountain to ski, and the snow as great but I didn’t take any photos!! It was my first day out skiing and it was cold so I was preoccupied and didn’t want to get my camera out.

We had tacos for dinner that night. 

And we played cards and the boys played Catan.

We had a nice easy morning on Friday and then got on the road again. We could not get over all the snow!

We had a hotel in Orillia booked that night. We walked over to Boston Pizza for dinner in all the snow. 

Ski racing season got underway on Saturday morning. E is in U16 this year.  This is in the morning and we had some fun powder to ski in.

And Q is in second year U10.

And it cleared up in the afternoon. 

Q’s team had a bowling event afterwards so we went there. E is not drinking the beer! Haha. The kids had a good time bowling and we met some new ski families and caught up with people from the year before.

Back to the hotel that night and out for dinner with some of the other families at Montana’s.

Q loves a photo op.

We had another day of skiing on Sunday and made our way home after that to get ready for back to school and back to work after the holidays!

I can’t think of anything we didn’t do over the last two weeks that we wanted to do, we are very fortunate that we had time with family, friends, and each other. We watched movies and TV shows, played games, skied, and enjoyed lots of good food.