Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A Day in the Life of

My online mom group decided we would each do "day in the life of" posts so everyone could learn about one another more and them secretly compare ourselves to each other;) If I am talking about something and you are thinking WTH is that, I usually include links for as much as I can find. Just click on the green bolded words. 
So my day starts depending on when Merle wakes. If I keep the room dark and try not to move too much, sometimes I get a bit longer. Mostly it's me closing my eyes trying to pretend sleep in hopes she catches the drift. Usually not and she starts the day by plucking out her sucky and singing a little bit. It's usually between 7:30 and 8:30 (sometimes longer on the weekend). I have one happy morning kid and one crusty one. I get up and while I feed Merle I steep myself a cup of tea (because I like it super strong).



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Happy morning breakfast baby.

After that I am usually catching myself up on Facebook and my favourite homeschooling forum The Well Trained Mind.  Lots and lots of great information on there. You can lose a full day once you start reading and researching. Time to wake the crusty one. It usually involves pulling back the blinds, cheering good morning, placing a baby on her head and whipping the covers back. Still it will take 15-20 minutes for her to crawl out of bed with a scowl and crazy hair.

It's time for me to motivate myself to exercise. Blah. Today I warmed up, did a workout called Prison Cell Exercises which I have aptly renamed, You Will Die in Prison Exercises. Then I stretched it out. This is my prison mugshot, I thought it was going to kill me.




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Shower, dress and beautify. I have to shower with the door open since the bathroom is small and I can't bring Merle in. She hangs out in her jumper beside her sister (who is usually playing on the computer) which is right out front of the bathroom door. Showering with the door closed or without an audience, now what would that be like?

School time! If you ever watched Seinfeld you would know the Soup Nazi. I refer to myself as the school Nazi. Yes we do school during the summer. We take various other breaks throughout the year as needed but if we take the summer off, I know I will be spending the first two months of the next school year reteaching everything she forgot over the summer.
We start our lessons with daily memory work, and math facts. Next we work on geography. Where the Canadian provinces are located and what their capitals are and European countries on a map via online sources. Daily we do math, Latin, French, copywork, spelling and grammar. Alternating days are History (3x week) and Science (2x week). If she pays attention it usually takes close to 2 hours a day. She is Harry Potter obsessed right now so currently she goes to Hogwarts. She puts on a witch hat, has a wand and I have changed the class names to Chants, Transfiguration, Spells, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, History of Magic, Potions, Muggle Studies and Charms. Merle wants to join Hogwarts too.




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Lunch is next and I usually read or scan the computer while eating. Merle is either cat napping, sitting on my knee or bouncing in her jumper. Roo usually eats lunch in the living room with her toys or while playing JumpStart on the computer. We did a quick photo shoot before going out.




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We live right downtown so most things are really close and convenient. Today we went to the library which is 1.5 blocks away. She hung out with a little girl that was there while I perused the books. A quick 20 minute library visit turned into 1.5 hours. She also has the habit of reading and walking so I constantly have to pull her over to stop her from walking into people/objects.



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Then we walked through town to the water front because they have ducks there she likes to feed. We have to do it covertly because we feed them our ends from the bread and the crunchy momma's (no offence) hang out there by the coffee shop in their mom group. They frown upon this and "encourage" feeding them corn and seeds. I don't need to be given nor do I deal well with someone lecturing me so we hide;) The grocery store is literally a 2 minute walk from home so we usually pick up stuff every 2-3 days in small quantities because I have to carry it home. Today was one of those days because I needed diapers. I often make Roo wear a backpack to carry stuff to help. It's usually only bread or other light things and she complains the whole way home. Even while I am strapped with a kid on my front and carrying 4 bags struggling, she is literally skipping along and complaining. It's annoying. We get home and put the groceries away then Roo stripped down and sat in front of the a/c unit because "she was disgustingly hot". Then we figured out what's for dinner. While thinking about it, I feed Merle. She had peas first with bananas after. She loves any kind of banana mixture and can't open her mouth quick enough for it.

I prepared a stir fry for me broccoli, green pepper, onion, leeks, a couple of eggs thrown in, slivered almonds and teriyaki sauce. Roo had kraft dinner because she's picky with stir fry on the side. Then she went into the bath. I wash her hair she hangs out in the tub until she wrinkles. When I went in to fish her out I noticed that her shampoo bottle was now almost completely empty and floating in the water. When I asked her what happened she declared that she wanted to smell like strawberries so she washed her body with it. Pretty expensive bath. Out she comes and then it's Merle's turn, quick, easy and painless. Roo gets a bedtime snack and Merle ate paper.


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Then ready for bed. It's usually around 8:30 by the time I am able to get her in. We all climb into bed to read a couple of stories from Aesop's Fables for Children and a chapter from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Now we see how long she will be awake for, my guess is 11:30 or later. Merle takes her final 8 oz bottle before bed at 9:00 and slips into milk coma on her mat.


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I slide her into bed when I go to bed and she will sleep until a 4am feeding. Right now is my time to fiddle on the computer, update my blog, or watch things that I have missed on TV because I get zero time to myself. I usually watch TV shows or Movies on THIS site. I love it it's awesome.  I've still got to wash, sterilize and prepare bottles and almost forgot:( It's now 12:00 and I am sliding into bed to read one of my three books on the go and Roo is still awake. She will be crusty in the morning and then the full circle starts again.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

I'm So Sorry Iza..........Please Forgive Me.

On Friday which happened to be Canada Day, I made myself accept that my cat wasn't getting any better. I was just wishing and hoping she was. That afternoon I brought her to the emergency clinic knowing I wouldn't be bringing her home. After the vet checked her out, she told me her opinion but the decision was mine to make. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. Signing the paper to permit the euthanasia felt like a betrayal of the worst kind and I still feel sick thinking about it. She asked me if I wanted to stay in the room or not. I really wanted to run away and say I couldn't do it. But I had no choice because she was sitting there scared and not knowing what was happening. It was quick but seemed so very long. The whole time I was crying and saying "I'm so sorry" over and over. It's so blurry but so vivid in my mind still. I remember hearing my tears rolling down my face and hitting the stainless steel table. Then it was done.
She was 14+ years old. I adopted her from the humane society and her age was unknown at the time. It was estimated at 1 year, maybe more. I named her Iza (pronounced Ee-suh) a character from one of my favourite books. She was my constant friend, my heart is aching and I miss her terribly. 


Thank you mom, for being there when I needed someone. I love you.




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