We came home after our holiday. It's so weird leaving my husband behind to work. We text throughout the day, play Words with Friends together and Facetime any night that he's not working late and I'm not passing out early like the old lady I am. All of us have been very busy January and February and the time is passing very quickly. Hubby has been very busy at work. I'm busy single parenting, working and helping out at school when I can, as well as working out.
I was challenged by the fitness studio I joined last summer to work out 3 x a week or 25 times during January and February. We had a lot of snow days so it was tough, but I made it 25 times and another woman made it 28 times. We both won a $100 Sportchek gift certificate, 5 hour punch card for classes at the studio and some other goodies I will pick up this week. I'm super excited! Especially after I found out on the same day I had my first fender bender in 12 years. :( I had a good run, but was lucky it was very slow and my car doesn't even need a repair. I also learned all about how to report such an incident in Ontario. Apparently there's something called a "collision reporting centre". I had no idea, but the other driver was very kind and walked us through the process. Yes, it killed 1.5 hours on a Sunday morning, but it wasn't that big of a deal and everyone was very professional.
It's been snowing and cold as usual but luckily in February I can keep busy with curling and bonspiels! A bonspiel is a curling tournament. Our local club holds a day long ladies one on the 2nd Monday in February and our team won this year :). The theme was Lets Go Bananas!
Then a few weeks later, I participated in a 2 day bonspeil where we won for the 3rd year in a row.
The theme for this one was "Canada goes Stampeding"
V has been swimming on Saturday mornings-a diving lesson, then a swim lesson and still loves being in the pool. This week will be her final lessons so we'll see if she passed the levels and figure out what she will take next session. H is still figure skating and almost done with the winter session. H & V will both be skating Saturday mornings at our new ice arena for the spring. Now that we have an arena that can handle warmer temps without melting, the skate season is longer! C has been playing Dungeons & Dragons with a friend and other kids from the area one evening a week at the library.
Hubby came out to visit for the first week in February though it was a working week, but it was good to have him around. He's planning on coming for two weeks in March and hoping they are true vacation weeks.
I took my citizenship exam and got 19/20. It took me all of 6 minutes, so I was first in for my final immigration interview. (They did the test, then the interview second. They were a little concerned about how often I go over the border for grocery shopping but I reminded them that many of the visits were just a few hours but their rules state to list all dates I crossed the border. Then the conversation turned to the weather (because, as I've noted-Canadians love talking about the weather) and she asked if I had a hard time getting in to the centre as there'd been a dumping of snow overnight. I mentioned I'd luckily made it out of our cul du sac and while it took me a little extra time it wasn't bad, but I was hoping to be home soon so I could snowblow my driveway (I mentioned I'd gotten the hang of not blowing everything into my face) and then my neighbor's since the husband who had done my driveway for the last 5 years had a stroke, so I tried to get his done before his wife left to see him at the hospital. Apparently this was the most Canadian thing she'd ever heard and she closed the file and stated, "I see no reason not to make you a citizen." You will get your invitation for the ceremony in the next 60 days. So in mid-March I'll make my oath to the queen and get my citizenship.
Another item of note is we finally moved my inlaws into their new home! They sold their home back in August and have been staying in various temporary houses until a few weeks ago. They are so happy to be in their own place. It's a new construction and they've quickly unpacked the boxes and are getting settled. They are very close to us-less than 1km. I'm glad to have them available with husband working away and the kids are excited to be able to ride their bikes to their house when the snow finally melts. There are no roads to cross between us and them. They just cross the schoolyard and take a sidewalk down to their home. Easy Peasy.
The last item of note is that in February my uncle passed away suddenly. He was my Dad's youngest brother and only 9 years older than me (he was adopted when my dad was a teen). He had a stroke and while he was at risk, the risk was expected maybe in 10-20 years, not now. It's been a bit of a blow to the family due to the suddenness and his age (49).
Well, hopefully my next post will have pictures of us on March break (maybe we'll even be able to see the grass by then!) and my citizenship ceremony.
