Rini's second Christmas

Last year was Rini's first Christmas, and there were all sorts of wonderful things that happened. The only glitch is that I doubt Rini remembers any of it. Goodness, I barely remember it. I'll just to go back to last years blog and see what I wrote. Hopefully something!

This year we tried to do a little bit of a family christmas thing. I know that it's only Christmas Eve, but before we headed out chez Tolley, we opened up the presents that we got from Grammie and Grandpa Clark (my parents). They are going to be visiting Grandma tomorrow, but I don't know if we would be able to drop by for a visit of sorts. We'll have to play it by ear.

It a drastic departure, this year the Christmas PJ's were cropped pants and knee socks! There were also T-shirts, but the socks were blue and black stripes, and the shirts blue with black cropped pants. For all the grandkids, they all fit like pants, if they fit. It's kind of weird to have solid colours. I'm used to the zany prints that always befit the crazy Tolley clan. This year, solid colour, but the socks are new. Crazy didn't let me down!

Rini might have discovered a new favourite toy with one of the presents from Grammie and Grandpa! There was a felt flower that she absolutely loves. She even dropped her bunny to play with it, and that's saying something! For the six months that she's had that bunny they have pretty much been inseparable.

I've also learned that Rini is kind of funny when it comes to watching movies. Granted, she just turned 22 months today, but she only likes movies that are really cute. She LOVES Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but of that movie, she only likes the part with the little bunnies. She also likes the DVD game, but she runs around and plays while the movie runs for the more part, as she did today when we watched "Horton Hears A Who." Funny funny movie, really cute, lots of smart comedy, good physical comedy, but could not hold Rini's attention. What a goof!

She was quite the character while taking the family pictures, and at first she didn't want to lie down on the ottoman, but when she saw her cousins doing it, we couldn't get her off! We got some really cute pictures, but I'll have to post them later. We'll get the pictures emailed to us, probably before the new year, and I'll be able to do something with them then.

Should be for a wonderful day tomorrow!

Also, it's much safer to drive Elene now. All we had to do was open up the Fresh air vents and most of the moisture in the car was able to equalize with the air outside. Who knew?

Simple things in life

Today, after a crazy day at work that made me realize I need to take
my meds, we went to get some Christmas shopping done. It wasn't that
busy, and we actually found quite a few good things. Mind, Rini and I
had a good time playing in the store. We went up and down the
escalator about a dozen times, and she was getting quite good at
getting on and off without tripping or falling over. I also taught
her to keep both feet in the middle of the step. Simple things, and
I'm sure she won't remember this, but I hope she remembers that I
spent time with her, even if we just went up and down the escalator
loads of times.

I actually got the idea from 'One Fine Day.' George Clooney: "Don't
worry about them, they're on the escalators." And that's what the kids
did! They went up and down the escalators throughout the entire
scene! What are the odds that my daughter acts just like kids in
movies?

On second thought, the chances are pretty good.

The other frightening thing I realized is that I haven't given much
thought towards presents for my parents, sisters, or grandmother! I'm
horrible! And running out of money. Caitlin mentioned that my
parents celebrate Ukranian Christmas, which is on 6 January. So we're
covered, plus I'll have my first paycheck of the new year by then. I
have no idea if we are going to get a Christmas bonus, but judging
from the outstanding accounts that we have in front of us, I would say
that I'll be lucky if I still have a job in the new year!

Ha ha! No, I am seriously freaked out of my tree. Hence the meds.

Winter adventuring in Minus Hell Frozen Over temperatures

You would think that cold weather and snow would be the ideal
conditions for some winter playtime. And if the temperatures still
confused Americans, you would be right. But when you get down close
to MINUS FORTY, it's quite safe to say that it's much to cold to do
much of anything except complain about how cold it is.

But we did manage to brave the cold for a little while to go to a
nearby park. I never realized how fast slides are once they freeze.
Rini learned that when she went down the spiral slide the first time.
Good thing Caitlin was at the bottom, because Rini practically flew
off the slide! I was a bit more fool hearty and I went down the
'bumpy' slide. The first drop was fast, second was quicker, and the
third drop I hovered above the slide until I got to the bottom. I
then stumbled to catch my footing and after three wild steps, I did a
faceplant. Caitlin still laughs whenever she thinks about it.

My only regret is that we didn't take any pictures.

Pink Cheeks

You know it's cold when Rini wants to go to the park going to Safeway,
but going home she just wants to get back in the warm house! This
afternoon is was rather cold when we went shopping to replenish our
food stocks. Really cold. Like... cold enough that you run out of
euphamisms to explain just how cold it is! I would like to say that
it was cold enough to freeze a dog to a fire hydrant, but that was
yesterday. Today, it was just plain cold. We were going to go to
Superstore to do our shopping, but when I tired to start Elene, she
chugged. It was not a pleasant sound. Of course, it would have been
smart to plug in her block heater, but I failed to do that, because I
didn't think that we would be travelling out and about today. Again,
I was wrong.

We plugged her in, because we thought that we could go shopping, and
then travel to Beaumont afterwards. That didn't happen either. We
got home, and all Caitlin wanted to do was to stay home. Not that I
could blame her. Did I fail to mention that it was REALLY COLD out
today? I did? It bear repeating...

But the other good news is that I have emerged THE VICTOR from the
battle of the bug. The past three days have passed in a virus induced
haze, and only tonight did I feel like, 'Hey, I don't feel like death
anymore!'

I had the hope to go to work today, but this morning we took my
temperature and thought otherwise. Then, I thought that I would be
able to come in for a half day. Around 11am, I was watching Sesame
Street and my eyes started to tear up. I couldn't tell if I had
forgotten to blink or if the pressure in my head was forcing my tear
ducts to squeeze out liquid. In any case, I was too out of it to be
productive, and I called in sick the rest of the day. I didn't feel
confident driving at that point in time. Then I went to bed and slept
for an hour and a half. In the past 72 hours, I spent more than half
of that time asleep. It was pretty bad.

The crazy thing is that was feeling a little backwards on Tuesday last
week, but I pushed through it. Friday, I was starting to get a cough,
but Saturday, I sat back relaxed, and it hit me with a few days charge
up. It was horrible. But since it was so cold out, it didn't really
matter.

I felt bad that we didn't go to church, but I picked one of the best
weeks to miss, in terms of my calling. We just had a new Sunday
School teacher called, and that meant that we were set for teachers!
I didn't have to teach a class this week unlike the past four! And I
was sick... Of course, we missed putting in our tithing, and we also
missed the pick up for the giving tree.

The latter was remedied tonight after Elene had been plugged in for a
couple of hours. I hopped in the car, she started on the first try,
and I was off to Bishop Morais' to drop off the presents. After I did
two U turns, and went past his house once, I finally found the place.
I swear that the people who designed Millwoods decended from M C
Esher. (I don't know if we should pay for a dimension we're never
going to use.)

Rini was also having a bit of fun with daddy tonight as we did some
Karaoke singing! I popped in HSM:Sing it! and we sang for about an
hour. Of course at one point, she wanted my mic, and I did horribly
poor on the song. Eh. That's what memories are made of. The great
irony is that when I started to feel better, Caitlin started to feel
worse. For a little while she was feeling quite nauseated, but now
she just has a moderately upset tummy. She hoping it's pregnancy
pains.

If there is a bun in the oven, I will be changing the name of the blog again.

Check back soon!

Out with the old

And in with the upgrade! If you haven't visited before, then I supposed you wouldn't know any difference now. But for anyone else who has been following this blog for longer than... ten minutes ago, you will notice that there is a subtle difference. First, there is the followers. This allows you to have a direct RSS feed with the blog. Also, I am pleased to note, the archives are easier to navigate. If there is a certain entry you are trying to find, you can browse by year or month with the tiered menu. HOT!

I know. I'm a nerd. I would not quite say that I'm a geek, because I have yet to bite the head of a small animal. I haven't even slaughtered a chicken, although I have plucked one.

In any case, enjoy the new bits and bytes!

Slippery slope

I was hoping that I would be able to edit the letter that I wrote to
my brother-in-law, and then head off to bed, but using iPaq for
writing leaves some things to be desired. First off, I couldn't get
the whole thing on one page. Something about the way that gmail works
with iPaq. At least it works, of else I would have quite the time
posting these entries. Sure I could do it from the rig. but something
about writing in bed is so much more comfortable. Besides, that means
that I can snuggle while I write, and that's always better for Caitlin
and myself. Happy Wife, Happy Life. Words to live by.

In any case, I wrote about Rini's first sledding adventure, but the
second adventure was a bit crazier, and not quite as ideal... First
off, we got a new sled. If anyone has seen my facebook status, you
would know what I think of it. Needless to say, I don't really want
to hang onto it, because it pulls to the right, is really hard to
control, and it threw me every time I went on a run. It threw Rini
too, and she wasn't prepared for it! She got her first facewash, and
I can't say that I was happy about that. Neither was she. After that
incident, she was ready to go home, and announced that with vigor.

Maybe we could live with just the crazy carpet, but I would like to
have a sled that all three of us could go on a run with. There is a
wooden folding sled I saw at Zellers, and it was about $40. I could
put that on the Christmas wish list.

The other fun thing is the fact that life has got a bit more fun at
work. The three month mark has passed, and that means two things.
Evaluation! and RAISE! HIGH WOOTAGE! I don't know when that will
kick in, but for the moment, I'll just have to see on Monday.

I'm off to play some online cash cab!

First time sledding!

Caitlin was not feeling her normal 110% today, and we had a bit of a
disagreement on what to do today. We went to the Ward Primary
Christmas party, and that went very well. I was told that my wise man
costume was quite the sight, and the extra headpieces that we were
working on until 2am were well appreciated too! Next time this
happens, I think that Caitlin would appreciate more than two days
notice about making the costume! Mind, Caitlin made the most
elaborate costume, most everyone else had wraps or bathrobes. It was
still a lot of fun.

We were supposed to meet the missionaries today, but one of the Elders
fell ill, so our appointment had to be rescheduled. Just as well, we
all needed a nap after that party! I woke up around 5pm, and Rini
woke up soon after. After a bit of a discussion regarding whether we
should go sledding, Rini and I went off and left Caitlin behind to
have a snooze uninterupted.
I was intent on getting a set of house keys cut for Caitlin because
when we got back from the Christmas party, I discovered that not only
was I driving illegally (I didn't have my lisence on me) we were
locked out of the house! I had forgotten my keys! I keep them on a
seperate key chain, and I keep the car key in a wrist pouch that I was
wearing. Hence I didn't think of checking for the key. Plus, we
usually don't lock the door when we leave. We should really stop
doing that... In any case, after Caitlin broke into the house using a
window, I decided that we were going to get keys for Caitlin THAT DAY.
We can't go breaking into the house everytime our upstairs neighbour
is gone and locks the door.

The place that I was planning on going to was at Millwoods Town
Center, which is right across the road from Millwoods Park, and I was
quite certain that there was a good tobogganing hill in the park.
However, we only had a crazy carpet, but it was better than nothing.

Surprise! We weren't the only one's on the hill! There was a group
of ten or twelve year old boys with one of the boys father there.
They had an extra sled that wasn't being used, so after a run on the
crazy carpet (which was pretty fun) I asked if we could use the sled.
They said yes, and Rini and I hopped into the sled and went zooming
down the hill! Normally I worry about getting hit by other people on
the hill, but since it was just those boys, Rini and I went farther
than any of them, and we had no worries to collect ourselves and start
back up the hill. We had to be careful walking back up, because the
hill was really slick. When we first got there, I saw one of the boys
slip and fall on his face as he was walking back up the hill...

Rini is proving to be quite the independant girl! After we had done a
few runs, Rini got in the sled, and sat in the back. I told her that
she had to scoot forward to let daddy sit down, and she did. Once I
got in though, she got out. I was a little perplexed, so I got out,
and woudn't you know, she got back in. Sitting in the back again. I
scooted her forward so I could get in, and again she got out when I
sat down! Fortunately, there was a bunny hill right behind the hill
we were going down. I turned the sled around, she got in, and I sent
her down on her first solo sled run. Just my luck, she hit a tree.
Glanced off it actually, but I wasn't overly impressed with myself.
She wasn't going very fast, so she didn't really notice, and she went
for a few more runs by herself before she would let me go on another
run with her. Silly me, the last run we did together, we hit the jump
on the hill! I tried to steer away from it, but we went right over
it! BOOMPH! I almost lost control of the sled, but we didn't tip
over thankfully! I would have hated to have her spill on her first
time sledding!

We got home a little late, but it was a lot of fun! We just added
'sled' to Rini's Christmas list. :)

Done

November is done, and so is NaNoWriMo. What a month. I was quite
confident that I was going to write 50k this year, and despite some
setbacks, and writer's block, I actually succeeded. It was really
crazy that last little bit after I crossed 45k. That last 5k was like
a 'writer's high' you could say, because I didn't think that the story
was coming to an end, in fact it was only the beginning. I had just
gotten into the characters, and the original story line was still
there, but it had spawned into something else entirely. Characters
that I had never thought of popped up and guided the story in a way I
never considered. And the fact that Caitlin was able to write with me
this year was fabulous. Rini had her way of helping us too, but most
of the writing we did when she was asleep. Yes, I had a LOT of late
nights. And I had quite a few naps when I got home bone tired from
work!

The funny thing is that when I was heading off to work on Monday, 1
Dec 2008, the first official day after NaNoWriMo 2008, I was feeling a
little down because it was over for another year. Then 'Good
Riddance' by Green Day started playing on the radio. It was the first
time in recent memory that I cried when I heard a song on the radio.
Everyone usually gushes at the chorus, "It's something unpredictable/
but in the end it's right/ I hope you had the time of your life," but
for me, one of the versus struck a chord. "Another turning point, a
fork stuck in the road/ Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where
to go/ So make the best of this test and don't ask why/ It's not a
question, but a lesson learned in time."

Writing and parenting seem to have one thing in common. The only way
you can truly learn how to do it, is to do it. There is no equal
substitute for experience, and that's something I learned from doing
NaNoWriMo. Last year, I enjoyed writing, although I really had no
idea what I was writing, and I really mangled my original idea like I
couldn't believe. The story that I've read I have not been able to
read over again, at least not in one sitting. I've heard some parts
here and there, but that's the long and short of it. The story itself
is ridiculous, and not very coherent.

I'm not going to send my 2008 work off to a publisher right away, but
at least it's something that I'm a bit more proud of. I may revisit
it later, and try to finish it up. Until that time, I'm going to get
ready for the Christmas Party on Friday. Caitlin and I are going to
be singing "Once in Royal David's City" and we've been asked if we
could perform another song. I just now got the idea of a 12 days of
Christmas song, somehow tied into parenting. I'll have to mention it
to Caitlin and see if she'll help me with the writing.

Or maybe I'll do it tomorrow once I've had some sleep!