Dear Friends. I've missed you!

I figure I'm slacking on the blog posts, so I'll catch y'all up Christmas card letter style.

Dear friends:

Merry Christmas to you and yours!  I hope this letter finds you well.  It's the middle of February, so I'm just a tad late getting this out to you all.  Whoa, can you believe it?!  The middle of February??!!  Is that good or is that bad?  I shall ponder that.  Bad because as I creep up on 40 this year I have come to the obvious understanding that I'm on the downward slide closer to the grave now.  So the quickness of these days flying by is a little unsettling.  However, it's the middle of February, and do you know what that means?  The days are getting longer again and soon the nice weather will be here.  I'm fairly certain the snow won't melt until July, but as long as the air is mild, I'll be okay with that!  Besides, I've been missing my 'nightly' runs.  Really, I swear.  It's so crazy to acknowledge that, since I've hated running pretty much since Ali Darnay beat me at the 100 metre dash when I was in Grade 8.  To be beaten by a grade 7 kid...oh the humanity!!  *shakes fist*  Honestly though, I'm looking forward to lacing up my shoes, popping the ear buds in, leashing up the dog and clearing my head for a half an hour (or so) and surpassing small goals each time I go out.  This year we signed up to do the Warrior Dash with friends in July, so I need to get this 5K thing well under my belt before then.  We had so much fun a couple of years ago doing the Zombie 5K that I'm eagerly anticipating the Warrior Dash this summer.  I think I'll be in a much better position physically this go around.

So what's been going on with us lately?  I feel like I haven't really shared lately.  Sorry, life gets in the way. No, that's not really true because if life was getting in the way I'd have so much more to write about.  I think I've just gotten into the habit of accessing Facebook through my phone that I've gotten away from the source of convenience for blogging (my computer).  So let's see....let's see....What's happened, what's happening and what's coming up for this gal?

Lets start with the mundane shall we?  Work is work.  I made it through another annual round of employee evaluations unscathed, but no richer.  Go me!  Now I just have to find the motivation and desire to start and finish the evaluations for my own employees.  There isn't much more I loathe than doing these.  It's not that I have huge issues with my staff.  Far from it actually. They are just so tedious and boring and blah, blah, blah (the evaluations, not my staff)  Even writing about it has me drifting off.... So ya, work is work.  I'm still blessed enough to confidently state that I love my job (most days).  So there's that.

This year there are big plans for my 40th birthday party and they are already well under way.  Eric's helping out with some stuff and has something secretive up his sleeve.  I'm sure it will be awesome!  A hall has been rented, invitations have been created, music playlist started, and my secret birthday party Pinterest board is filling up with different ideas.  I want it to be kept fairly simple, but fun for everyone.  Being in the death industry and confronted daily on my mortality has made me push for a birthday party this year.  You just never know when something will happen, so I'm doing my best to make memories while I'm here!  Saturday, September 20th folks in the know - save the date!  I'm so looking forward to hanging out for the evening with as many of my friends as possible and I was also super excited to learn that a friend from a far away land is planning to come!

Gage's $11,000 mouth (overall) project is finally coming to an end tomorrow.  The poor guy was born without three permanent teeth so now that his braces are finally off and his teeth are where they should be, we can move forward with a fixed bridge so his mouth will have a full set of chompers!   I think he's looking so forward to completion and no longer having to wear a retainer with fake teeth all day everyday.   Maybe next year we can go on a vacation instead of having to buy Gage teeth.  Wouldn't that be lovely?  And it also makes for a great segue into my next paragraph.

I've taken this week off work.  I was in desperate need of some non-work time.  No plans to go anywhere.  Just some scatterbrained thoughts about doing stuff around that house that probably won't actually get done.  You know, stuff like spring cleaning.  So I spent the day yesterday cleaning our bedroom and Eric's office/my craft area.  Three garbage bags and two donation bags later...I feel cleansed.  Onto another room sometime this week (maybe).  I'm also trying to fit some real life visits in while I'm off as well.  Today I got to steal a quick visit with my favourite month old twinnies.  Friends of ours had a baby boy and girl a month ago and I just love holding those little babes.  It's nice to hang with their parents too.  We'd gotten away from that for far too long.  So just another reason why babies are pretty awesome.  By the way, what is it about holding a new baby that's so calming?  And then on Thursday I am going to enjoy some amazing Indian cuisine at Moksha with Lesley and finally some time over the weekend we'll hook up with Stu and Tina for some yummy breakfast grub.  So ya, trying my hardest to have more human interaction with the people that mean something to me.  Don't worry, if we haven't hung out yet or recently I'm getting there!  I promise.

But before dinner on Thursday, I get to do something I've always wanted to do but have been a little shy, nervous, apprehensive about doing.  Last summer I won a gift certificate at a stag and doe for a Pin Up photo shoot.  I finally got around to contacting the photographer and made arrangements to do my shoot on Thursday.  She has numerous vintage 'sets' but I'm still so undecided as to what I want (theme, costume, etc.).  I figure it's just easier to give her carte blanche, as she knows what she's doing way more than I do. I'm so green when it comes to this sort of thing.  Just the idea of it makes me nervous, yet excited.  I don't have a clue how to pose for a picture...but I'm looking forward to seeing what she can pull out of me while I'm there.  I'm sure I'll blog about that experience once it's done and I have some photos to post.

Eric and I are also making plans (outside of my Pinterest boards and deep in the recesses of my head) pertaining to home renovations for the next few months.  I think the main project this spring will be to paint our aluminium siding to freshen up the outside of the house.  We'll do it ourselves, because we're handy insane, when I'm off for a week in May. I've already researched it, and it doesn't seem too hard, it's just going to be time consuming.  Eric's also done some patch work on some of the walls in our bedroom so we'll end up having to paint that once he gets his cast off his hand in a couple of weeks (snow shovelling casualty).  I have so many other ideas I'd love to see come to fruition over the next year, but I need to be financially realistic.  With Eric being laid off we've found ourselves in a catch 22.  More time at home to get stuff done, but less money to have it become a reality.  One baby step at a time.  I'm not sure I'll ever get another vacation!

Both boys are doing well.  Gage finished Semester one of Grade 11 (GRADE ELEVEN! WTF??) with a decent set of grades and has started a relatively easy second semester.  Roan has struggled immensely through the first half of his year (Grade 7) prompting us to re-evaluate the benefits of medication.  He's been off meds for his ADD for about 8 months now, but we've discussed with his teachers and included Roan himself in the decision making and we've decided it's probably best for him to get some assistance with his concentration.  So he's started a new prescription (much different than the first go 'round) and he seems to be responding well to it both in school and personally.  So hopefully he can pull his grades up and move on to Grade 8 in a much better position.  I hate seeing him struggle with school when he's capable of so much more.  

So I guess that's a quick synopses of what's been happening with us and what we are anticipating over the next half a year or so.  I should probably come up with reasons to blog more frequently so I'm not subjecting you to this sort of post again any time soon.  I'll do my utmost best going forward.  I hope Santa is good to you all.  Many blessings for a peaceful holiday and a prosperous new year!  

Until next time, start getting excited about an upcoming birthday party!

Holly