Another Opinion Among Many

What to dress them in is the title of this post.  Its just a quick thought on the dilemma that many parents face each morning when they are getting their kids ready for school.  There’s supposed to be a nasty storm coming our way, which is over Ohio right now.  It won’t likely get here until tonight, but, in the mean time, the temperature is in the single digits and its raining.  So, its really not warm enough for their rain coats unless they’re layered with sweaters and pullovers, which they hate.  I’ve decided that they’re going to go with their winter coats because of the temperature, but they’ll be wet when they get home today.  It looks like mother nature is going to win again.

This storm is supposed to dump a lot of snow and freezing rain on us, and yet the forecast for our weather doesn’t seem to reflect that.  How can you have a severe weather warning that covers the entire province and yet the very same weather service is showing a reasonably decent weather forecast? I’m confused.  Weather Network, you have to be more clear today!

Abby scratched this drawing out for me in just a few minutes on a note pad. I couldn’t keep it to myself.

She did this standing up with the note pad in her hand.

Why this title? Our son, Caleb, has been reluctant to read anything that his school library offers, or anything else that has been “suggested” to him. That is, until now. He has discovered the Goosebumps series of books and he will read one for quite a stretch of time now. So, our eight year old is reading books for as much as an hour or more at a time. This is a refreshing change from his obsession with video games, as the write ups on the RPGs and FPSs that he plays were the only things that he would devote his attention to. This was not all bad, of course, as he learned some big words like “disembarkation” from these games.

Monday is the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday (we planned it that way so that we will like turkey again before Christmas, you see).  Although its not a statutory holiday in New Brunswick, my company recognizes it as one (because they’re global and have several offices in this country, in different provinces).

With unusual foresight, I booked today and Tuesday as vacation days, effectively creating a 5 day weekend, of which I will still be paid for 3 of them.  To say that its been busy at work would be an insulting understatement.  So, I’ve been looking forward to a bit of a break.  The finances are lining up slowly, so I thought that  this would be a decent time to take a trip to visit my family, whom I haven’t seen (with the exception of one night with my parents) for nearly a year.

As long as everything goes without any major strangeness, it should be a good time.  And, with 5 days and a car to help get there (we’re taking the ferry - maybe there will be pics if the porpoises or whales decide to swim with it), I think that there might even be a moment where I might relax.

I hope so.

So, it seems that we will likely be owning a motor vehicle sooner than I had planned. I was going to go through this winter without a car and make my way back and forth to work with other means (but now on the really cold, snowy, or rainy days…). My in laws are replacing their car with something newer. There present vehicle can be trusted for short trips, though, and since they realized that its resale would not net very much, they decided to give it to us. So, now I have to call my insurance company and see if they’ll start me off with similar rates as I had 4-1/2 months ago. I didn’t see the point of insuring a car that I didn’t own any longer which was in a junk yard anyway.

So, I guess the kids might actually get to school without frostbite this year. I’m still riding my bike.

My mom and dad came over to visit from Nova Scotia.  They arrived last night with cake and presents for me (and belatedly for Abby and Caleb).  Angela had baked one as well, so it was nice and toasty warm in the apartment last night.  I’m glad that they didn’t insist on putting candles in either of the cakes.

We had some time together this morning and they are now off on their return trip back home.  Its such a shame that we couldn’t have been together a bit longer, but they have cattle that need supervision and my brother could only reliably check on them last night, as he’s on “reserve” duty this weekend (he’s in the Air Force) and has to be within an hour of the base at all times.

These times remind me that a car would be good to have, as I could take the family there more often.  Oh well.  Treasuring the time that we spend together is what we have to do, and I have.

I got my walking in this morning, for sure.  I went to the school with Caleb at the regular time (and, on the way home I realized that I made a whole lunch for him when its a short day) and came back to get Abby ready.

Yes - to get Abby ready! Its her first day of school and she was so excited to go.  I sure hope that it doesn’t wear off, as she’s going to need a challenge.  The little sponge! I’ve taken the morning off work so that I could go with her and also get some other stuff done, like get my driver’s license renewed.  Just because I don’t own a car doesn’t mean that I won’t be driving one in the next few years!

In an hour, school will be out and we’ll go get the kids.  Its almost not worth having a day, being so short and all.

Do I hear an echo in here?…