Well, really a day and a half before we pull out of Waterloo to head back to Ottawa. I have lots of feelings about it - both excited and sad - but I just don't have the time to reflect on it blog-wise right now because of the PACKING AND PACKING AND PACKING.
Luckily, Henry has been awesome today (minus some clear digestive upset, poor guy) by napping nice long naps and has been fairly easy to get to sleep (the few days before this, neither one of those things has been easy) which meant my friend Michelle and I packed like fiends. Michelle was amazing and organized and brought Vincenzo's cappucino.
Tomorrow we finish up the packing. John picks up the truck. We have dinner with Paul and Marnie. And start to say our final goodbye's... for a while at least.
Showing posts with label The big sabbatical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The big sabbatical. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Packing is fully underway
I've managed to get Henry to take a long afternoon nap yesterday and today, something he hasn't done in about a week. Thank you Henry for complying! Because packing had to start in earnest and without him sleeping during the day, things were looking grim for me. But yesterday I managed to finish packing most of the playroom and by today about half the kitchen is packed (we're eating off of our picnic set now).
This morning John and our friend Greg took a trailer load to Generations (our favourite local consignment store - an MCC thrift store). I had to say goodbye to my favourite avacado green swivel rocking chair that has seem me through the last two months of breastfeeding. I was sad to see it go. Our living room furniture now consists of our IKEA pull-out couch, a desk and desk chair and one side table. We also got rid of our two leopard skin dining room chairs (didn't really shed a tear there) and will get rid of the other four (not leopard skin, sadly) just before we move.
On the dining room chair front, we gave away our chairs before we left Ottawa and bought 6 (at a whopping $4.99 each) at Value Village when we came to Waterloo. We obviously needed to replace them either before we moved back to Ottawa or right after we arrived. Today John went to one of those Toronto places you hear about but never find - direct from manufacturer, discounted, really nice stuff, pay in cash, no tax, near the airport, etc etc etc. He bought 6 dark brown high-back leather dining room chairs, no tax, in cash, no receipt, for $98 each. They were discontinued and they're gorgeous. They'll make our table look a bit ghetto. They make me feel like a grown-up given that they didn't come from IKEA like so much of our furniture.
Today we also said goodbye to our very close friends, Tamara and Greg, who are heading out on vacation today to New Brunswick and won't be back until after we've left. The first of the goodbyes have begun.
And now, time for some refreshment before Henry wakes up. Things are underway! The end is in sight... sad and happy at the same time.
This morning John and our friend Greg took a trailer load to Generations (our favourite local consignment store - an MCC thrift store). I had to say goodbye to my favourite avacado green swivel rocking chair that has seem me through the last two months of breastfeeding. I was sad to see it go. Our living room furniture now consists of our IKEA pull-out couch, a desk and desk chair and one side table. We also got rid of our two leopard skin dining room chairs (didn't really shed a tear there) and will get rid of the other four (not leopard skin, sadly) just before we move.
On the dining room chair front, we gave away our chairs before we left Ottawa and bought 6 (at a whopping $4.99 each) at Value Village when we came to Waterloo. We obviously needed to replace them either before we moved back to Ottawa or right after we arrived. Today John went to one of those Toronto places you hear about but never find - direct from manufacturer, discounted, really nice stuff, pay in cash, no tax, near the airport, etc etc etc. He bought 6 dark brown high-back leather dining room chairs, no tax, in cash, no receipt, for $98 each. They were discontinued and they're gorgeous. They'll make our table look a bit ghetto. They make me feel like a grown-up given that they didn't come from IKEA like so much of our furniture.
Today we also said goodbye to our very close friends, Tamara and Greg, who are heading out on vacation today to New Brunswick and won't be back until after we've left. The first of the goodbyes have begun.
And now, time for some refreshment before Henry wakes up. Things are underway! The end is in sight... sad and happy at the same time.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The next three weeks
We are all over the place the next three weeks. Here is a general itinerary:
Tomorrow: drive to the cottage (Huntsville, ON)
Weekend: enjoy time at the cottage with our good friends, Pam and Jim and their kids
Next week: at the cottage... John working here and there, me and the kids making a visit to Santa's Village (Bracebridge) and probably having a sleep over at my dad's in Gravenhurst
Next Friday: drive to Toronto
For the week following that: stay in Toronto at my friends Deb and Andrew's house in the Beach (sweet!) while they are gallivanting around Paris. During that week we plan to visit the zoo, Black Creek Pioneer Village, Ontario Science Centre, go to the beach every day, walk up and down Queen St and soak it all in, walk amongst Canada's tallest skyscrapers so the kids can see what a real big city is like (no insult attended, Ottawa), have tea (Emily and I) at the Royal York or Kind Edward as Emily's birthday present. Perhaps during that week we'll pop into our house in Waterloo to make sure everything is okily-dokily.
End of our week in Toronto: drive back to the cottage for another week wherein we will have a number of members of John's family visiting.
Phew. I'm kind of worn out just writing it down. On the other hand I am so looking forward to the adventures of the next three weeks!
I'll blog when I can but I might just be having too much fun!
Tomorrow: drive to the cottage (Huntsville, ON)
Weekend: enjoy time at the cottage with our good friends, Pam and Jim and their kids
Next week: at the cottage... John working here and there, me and the kids making a visit to Santa's Village (Bracebridge) and probably having a sleep over at my dad's in Gravenhurst
Next Friday: drive to Toronto
For the week following that: stay in Toronto at my friends Deb and Andrew's house in the Beach (sweet!) while they are gallivanting around Paris. During that week we plan to visit the zoo, Black Creek Pioneer Village, Ontario Science Centre, go to the beach every day, walk up and down Queen St and soak it all in, walk amongst Canada's tallest skyscrapers so the kids can see what a real big city is like (no insult attended, Ottawa), have tea (Emily and I) at the Royal York or Kind Edward as Emily's birthday present. Perhaps during that week we'll pop into our house in Waterloo to make sure everything is okily-dokily.
End of our week in Toronto: drive back to the cottage for another week wherein we will have a number of members of John's family visiting.
Phew. I'm kind of worn out just writing it down. On the other hand I am so looking forward to the adventures of the next three weeks!
I'll blog when I can but I might just be having too much fun!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Life in Waterloo - Part 1 - What the heck are Twin Cities?
One of the joys of living in a new part of the province or country or world is to compare and contrast experiences of living in that new place with what we're familiar with.
I've lived in Waterloo before but it's been a long time (eight years!). Some things are the same, some are different and I'm seeing it all now through the eyes of a parent instead of the eyes of a late twenty-something.
I've decided that I will do an occasional series called Life in Waterloo. I plan to write about our life here of course, things I discover, things I love, the ways that our lives are different because we're in a different city and different part of the province. I'll try not to make it "how Ottawa sucks and how Waterloo rules" or vice versa but that will likely happen once in a while. I'll do the same for the months that we're in Austin, Texas.
And so, on to Part 1.
We live in Waterloo. About a 5 minute walk up our street, and you hit Kitchener. I can bike to Tamara's house in 5 minutes. Tamara lives in Kitchener. I live in Waterloo. Bell Canada and Canada Post list us as living in Waterloo. Onstar and the Globe and Mail list us as living in Kitchener. (They're wrong.) Other people list us as Kitchener-Waterloo. That's because Kitchener-Waterloo (also known as K-W) are twin cities. It should really be conjoined twin cities. You can't tell where one starts and the other begins save for the small signs that say in various ways "you are now entering the historic village of Waterloo 1857" or "City of Kitchener 1916" in a small nondescript sign posted above the parking regulations (yes, they could be different in each city).
My favourite one is on King Street and says in a tall, vertical sign from the 1940s or so "City of Waterloo".
There are two municipal governments, two hydro companies, two library systems, two distinct downtowns (although both are located along King Street and Waterloo affectionately refers to its downtown as Uptown Waterloo). There are two of many things. It does seem ridiculous to those who don't live here or haven't lived here in a long time. It's hard to explain if you haven't been here and can't picture it. They were once two distinct villages that grew together as the villages grew. Now it is one large(ish) urban area that is still two cities.
There was talk at one time of amalgamating but nothing came of it. And so they remain conjoined twins with people living in working as though they were one. Until you have to deal with government or phone companies or hydro or swimming pools or community centres (if you live in Waterloo and want to take swimming lessons a few streets over at a Kitchener pool you have to pay an extra $25 a year). Then it matters.
It all adds to the odd character of this town/town that I love.
I've lived in Waterloo before but it's been a long time (eight years!). Some things are the same, some are different and I'm seeing it all now through the eyes of a parent instead of the eyes of a late twenty-something.
I've decided that I will do an occasional series called Life in Waterloo. I plan to write about our life here of course, things I discover, things I love, the ways that our lives are different because we're in a different city and different part of the province. I'll try not to make it "how Ottawa sucks and how Waterloo rules" or vice versa but that will likely happen once in a while. I'll do the same for the months that we're in Austin, Texas.
And so, on to Part 1.
We live in Waterloo. About a 5 minute walk up our street, and you hit Kitchener. I can bike to Tamara's house in 5 minutes. Tamara lives in Kitchener. I live in Waterloo. Bell Canada and Canada Post list us as living in Waterloo. Onstar and the Globe and Mail list us as living in Kitchener. (They're wrong.) Other people list us as Kitchener-Waterloo. That's because Kitchener-Waterloo (also known as K-W) are twin cities. It should really be conjoined twin cities. You can't tell where one starts and the other begins save for the small signs that say in various ways "you are now entering the historic village of Waterloo 1857" or "City of Kitchener 1916" in a small nondescript sign posted above the parking regulations (yes, they could be different in each city).
My favourite one is on King Street and says in a tall, vertical sign from the 1940s or so "City of Waterloo".
There are two municipal governments, two hydro companies, two library systems, two distinct downtowns (although both are located along King Street and Waterloo affectionately refers to its downtown as Uptown Waterloo). There are two of many things. It does seem ridiculous to those who don't live here or haven't lived here in a long time. It's hard to explain if you haven't been here and can't picture it. They were once two distinct villages that grew together as the villages grew. Now it is one large(ish) urban area that is still two cities.
There was talk at one time of amalgamating but nothing came of it. And so they remain conjoined twins with people living in working as though they were one. Until you have to deal with government or phone companies or hydro or swimming pools or community centres (if you live in Waterloo and want to take swimming lessons a few streets over at a Kitchener pool you have to pay an extra $25 a year). Then it matters.
It all adds to the odd character of this town/town that I love.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Weekend report and other news
Happy belated Easter to everyone! Without my desktop, my blogging has ground almost to a halt. Hopefully I'll hear from the Mac Store very soon and have my computer back in action.
We had a great Easter weekend. John's sister and her family stayed with us while his mom stayed at his brother's house in Riverside South. We all congregated on Saturday afternoon for a birthday party for our niece Sofia, who turned one yesterday.
We had a great time with everyone. The girls LOVED running through the house non-stop with their two cousins. The adults loved that that girls entertained each other while we relaxed (mostly). While we mostly stayed around the house, we also went to two parks, played outside, and visited Parliament Hill. The weekend ended with an Easter brunch at our house.
I've also been sitting on some biggish news around here. Last week we had two of John's grad students come over to look at our house and meet with us. Yesterday they told us that their going to rent it for the next year while John is on sabbatical. Although we originally hoped to spend the whole year in Texas, we'll be basing ourselves in Kitchener (pretty exotic, eh?) and spending December and January in Texas. Emily will be going to school there and we'll be spending ample time with very close friends there. We plan on living a student-type existence for the year enabling us to afford to be in Texas for two months and also reminding us all about how little you actually need to live a good life. It should be great.
Of course, we have to be out of our house on June 30. Time to panic!
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