Blizzard Greetings

Planting some of their very own spider plants

Happy blizzard day to all my East Coast friends!  For those not currently being blasted by ridiculous amounts of snow and wind, let me assure you that this is one doozy of a storm we are watching unfold.  It is big enough that closures started rolling in yesterday, in anticipation of all the ridiculousness: schools, all metro transportation services, malls, libraries.... this is February at its finest, let me assure you. Speaking of which, let me take you on a little recap of my solo parenting week, shall I? 

Finishing touches .  Juniper SWEARS she won't kill this plant, but her track record is against her

So, when I left you all last time, Clark was en route to a week in Victoria, and Juniper opted to stay home from school, as she wasn't feeling well.  In what can only be described as poetic timing, Juniper waited to vomit until just as Clark was boarding his first flight.  Yup - my worst parenting scenario, unfolding with beautiful precision.  So. As I'm sure no one wants all the details, suffice it to say that Juniper was home from school Monday and Tuesday.

Linden, with the finishing touches.

Wednesday morning, she bounded in to the room, and happily announced that she was all better, and couldn't wait to go to school.  School was, however, cancelled.  By mid morning, we were all completely stir crazy - it was miserable freezing-rainy weather, Juniper and I had both been cooped up for two days straight, and emotions were running high.  I might have, at one point, informed both children (with wild, crazy-looking eyes) that I was feeling mentally unstable, and that they had BETTER NOT PUSH IT.  We made it through the day, barely.

The new and improved Discovery Centre opened this weekend!!!

Thursday, the kids went to school.  I madly ran errands, in preparation for... you guessed it!  Storm day #2!  Friday was YET ANOTHER storm day.  But I was all over it this time.  Clark was coming home that night, and if I had one more day, I was going to do it right this time.  I took it on like a champ.  I shovelled our our entire driveway, had activities and events for the kids (thus the spider plant pictures, for example).  I even finished it all off by making a wild purchase, and downloading all the Harry Potter movies, deciding to let them start watching the first one.

More Discovery Centre - activities galore!

 I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing, really... Clark was en route, everyone had had a good day, Harry Potter was enthralling us all.  And then... my stomach started to hurt. I went to lie down, and realized that this day was not going to end well, after all. I let the movie end, weakly told the kids that they would have to put themselves to bed, and then waited for the inevitable.  I basically turned out their lights, said goodnight, and ran to the bathroom.  In order to finish things off as poetically as they began, this all happened just as Clark was boarding his flight back to Halifax.

This museum is clearly going to be our new favourite place!

I shall not rant - I've gotten that mostly out of my system at this point. But can I just mention quickly here that having a week-long meeting on the opposite coast at this time of year is straight up foolish?  Even Victoria got hit with heaps of snow!  Cancellations here there and everywhere, storms galore, missed flights, and sickness all over the place.  I am not a fan of long stints of solo parenting anyway, but in the height of winter?  Come on!  This was, I believe, the worst possible week to have had this particular challenge.  And though we have now emerged on the other side, I cannot say that I am am stronger for it.  Just weak and queasy and disgruntled.

Clark took the kids out for their first x-country ski of the season yesterday - they loved it!  Though Linden has outgrown the toddler skis, to be sure.

And finally - remember that mysterious package I picked up from Houlton last weekend? It was... wait for it... MY VERY OWN WHEEL!

Oh, the sweet joy of being able to throw again!!!

Between graduation gifts and Christmas and birthday, I had enough to buy myself a brand new pottery wheel. It is very cheap as far as wheels go (it is a portable one, actually), but good quality, and totally suitable for my needs at the moment.  I don't have a studio space, I have no kiln (thus figuring out how to fire my pieces is a problem I'm going to need to solve sooner rather than later), but for now, this is pure bliss. It was, at the very least, a nice treat at the end of a not-very-nice week.

OK - that is all I can manage at this point.  I should post this before (if( we lose power at some point. Stay safe, storm friends! Enjoy it if you can!