March Break Catch Up

Thanks for the "Are you okay?" comments that I have received. 

Yes, I'm great actually!  

Over Christmas we had been pondering packing up and leaving the HRM or maybe even Nova Scotia.  Both were sad thoughts for our whole family.  We love it here; this is home.  Just when we had pretty much decided that we would have to leave I started getting more substitute work (I work as an EPA) and that turned in to a 80% term until the end of the school year.  As quickly as that things started to turn around for us.  I love what I do, I love working where my children go to school, and I love that many stresses have been totally lifted (or at least alleviated)from our shoulders. It has been 12 yrs since I have worked full time so it is a lot trying to be gone all day AND plan meals AND get girls to dance or music or.... Most days I am away from home 12 to 14 hrs and still need to come home and do all the day to day stuff.  Fortunately I have a very helpful husband who pitches in to do the dishes and make bread before he heads to bed (for about 5 hrs if he is lucky).  I was always busy as a SAHM and rarely sat down so now I am basically trying to cram an additional 5 hrs in to the day!!  All things creative have essentially taken a back seat to life.  I need to make up some sewing kits to take to dance to get in my sewing time!

This week we are on March Break.  YEAH!!!!!

Day One...

• I got up before the girls and painted my daughter's bedroom, 

BEFORE

AFTER

(Martha Stewart's Aegean Sea)

I love this new colour.  She was completely resistant to the thought of painting her room.  The yellow is from the previous owners and it really needed freshening up.  Over the weekend I was FINALLY able to get DD to look at colour chips.  According to her, there were TOO MANY beautiful colours to choose from.  In the end, of the 20 some odd paint chips that came home, every single one of them were shades of blue! (this from the girl that LOVES red and pink).  She kept coming back to one chip so I ran out and bought the paint and this morning started painting before she woke up and had a chance to change her mind!  

She LOVES IT!!!

•  did four loads of laundry (that my DH is standing her folding while my daughter reads to him)

• cleaned the carpet in my daughter's bedroom (thanks to my friends for loaning me their cleaner)...it was rather disgusting when I saw the water...YUCK!  Now I am pricing out flooring for our rooms.  The carpets have to go!

• took the youngest to dance rehearsal...typically I stay and wait but I hadn't even started supper yet and she was dancing for 2 1/2 hrs tonight (usually it is only 2)

• drove home to pick my husband up from the bus stop

• came home and installed a new light fixture in my oldest daughter's bedroom.  I've never actually done this before.  I had started earlier but couldn't shorten the cord so DH pitched in and helped me until he had to run back to pick up my dancer.  Fortunately my oldest has grown a lot lately and was tall enough to hold the light while I connected everything.  I can now add "light fixture installer" to my list of abilities!  It is so pretty and my daughter LOVES it so success all around!

• AND cooked a pot roast for supper...complete with mushroom gravy!  YUM!! (supper was at 830 pm tonight)

I still have a couple of quilt blocks that absolutely HAVE to get made and sent for a Block Bee that I signed up for.  They were due the end of February.  She was late posting them (when I had lots of time) and now I am scrambling to get them done.  Hopefully once the munchkin goes to bed.  This is kind of (minus painting a bedroom/cleaning carpets) how my days were prior to working...and since working (adding in 5 hrs of work to the list).  I am hoping that after March Break I will have more balance once some things that need to be looked after are done and crossed off of my list.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this beautiful spring-like weather that we have been having.  Tomorrow...hmmm...I'm not really sure what we will be doing.  Today was my catch up/work day...tomorrow is our family day.