So I’m going to try my hand at something new for the blog (aside from the fantastic new look we’re working on around here, which you may have noticed and even let out a few oohs and ahhs – it’s pretty slick, thanks to a very good friend and seriously experienced web and graphic designer, Eric at Soloman Media). I got this Friday Five idea from another mama blogger at All of Life’s Little Adventures, and I enjoyed reading her personal catch-up post so much that I decided it’s something I’d like to get in the habit of as well.
Posting on ideas for parenting and life, offering up support and sharing my creative undertakings has been enjoyable, but I’ve been trying to figure out a way to also add in more of our day-to-day experiences and achieve some sort of consistency. I think this might be a fantastic solution. Depending how it goes and what gets included, I may or may not continue on with my “What You’re Doing Now” monthly series. I don’t want to be too repetitive. We’ll just have to wait and see how this unfolds.
So here you have it, my first “Friday Fivourites” – Five of my favourite pieces of the past week, posted each Friday.
Our plane tickets booked, we have been prepping for our family trip to Colombia this fall. In uni, I took a few Spanish courses and was actually fairly decent at conversing (with my good buddy and classmate, Amanda, anyhow) en Espanol. We even came out singing Cielito Lindo (dressed in full costume, of course) and strumming our guitars for a class project one memorable day. Yes, we are the coolest.
But… It’s been a long while since I’ve used any of what I learned, and it’s unfortunately very true what they say about using it or losing it. Seeing as Colombia is a Spanish-speaking country, I’ve been trying to brush up on my skills so I can strike up conversations with the locals awkwardly ask for something in Spanish, possibly have the Colombian respond, not understand, and from then revert back to English.
Anyhow, as I’ve been brushing up, I’ve been sharing my knowledge with Dear Old Hubby G and Little Miss Ziggity, who has added a happy and impeccably delightful “Hola!” to her repertoire of language. Adorable, and hopefully useful when paired with her “Don’t you want to be nice to my family?” blue-eyed super smile.
A happy surprise, we headed over to the Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan on Labour Day to attend a birthday party – for a train. Sampson (who is apparently the friendliest train) celebrated his 105th year of service, complete with party hats, sound makers and cake, and myself and Z were thrilled to be able to enjoy a day exploring the grounds with her Auntie, Uncle, and cousins.
We wandered through old buildings and antique vehicles, played at the playground, and Little Miss got to enjoy her very first train riding experience (the New York to Niagra Falls train ride last summer we won’t count since she wasn’t yet aware of what a train was or that we were on it).
You wouldn’t guess it from the outside, but our home is actually quite small when it comes to square footage. We love it, but the one thing I would change is the layout of the main entertaining area, which is basically one medium-sized room of combined kitchen and living space. Between the wood stove that’s a feature of almost every home on Salt Spring, and the counter that runs through half of this room, hosting the oven and diving the dining area from the kitchen, there is very little space to host a group of people comfortably.
This, plus the partially unusable and outdated kitchen, has caused us to day-dream about renovating. We even went onto IKEA’s virtual kitchen planner one day and put together a rough plan of what we wanted, but moving from idea to reality when you have no experience whatsoever with renovations or what it takes to make one happen, it’s quite overwhelming.
Serendipitously, a carpenter with a very experienced business of ordering and putting together IKEA kitchens posted his services (new to the island) on the Salt Spring Exchange. We called him up, got him to come over and give us a consult, and he helped us develop our vision more clearly. We won’t be getting started on the makeover until the New Year rolls in (Colombia and all), but in the mean time, I can’t stop going back to peek at our virtual plan and day dream about the increased space, function and a kitchen that sparks joy.
Z actually refers to these as “nuggos”, and they have been making my days lately. They just get longer and better, and it melts my heart when she spontaneously requests these cozy moments or minutes of soul-filling awesomeness.
This week she’s been combining her “nuggos” with apologies, still working through her realization that people can have different emotions, and that what she does has an effect on them. So many times this week she has followed up her accidental hurts toward me or her daddy with a remorseful look, an unsolicited “sorry” (a new word for Z), and some snuggling to help make it better (which it always does).
Gosh, I love this kid.
For the last few weeks we’ve been taking part in a program where we pick up a box every week of in-season produce from a farm close to us. It’s been amazing. We get a large quantity of quality fresh, local fruits and veggies (and even bread) for $25, which cuts down on what we buy at our grocery store, supports local farmers, and encourages us to try new things we probably wouldn’t have chose out if unfamiliarity, and to eat more healthy produce since we don’t want it to go to waste and know there is more coming each Wednesday.
Besides the actual CSA box, picking it up is an adventure all on it’s own. Z has thoroughly been enjoying visiting the horses, sheep, rabbits and cat, and checking out the different produce. This week there was an interesting display of large pumpkins, and she enthusiastically went around to check them all out, giving each one a hug for good measure.
It was a good week. I wonder what the next week holds for us?