What Mrs Mote gets done in a Week ...

So I decided to take some time off from the Hospice. I have told them I'm not impressed and that I need a bit of time to "lick my wounds" ... also I'm battling a silly cold which has gone on for 12 days now - oh well, keep telling Bob that time will do it's work and eventually it will be gone.

Part of it lingering I guess, could have to do with me not resting ... at all! I had an idea and once that has happened there is no going back! I must persevere ... 

1. 
   
   Move dining room to conservatory ... check
2. 
   
   Paint same green as in old "Pretty Room" (Benjamin Moore's Historical "Hollingworth") in old dining room ... check
3. 
   
   Paint white up to where the chair rail will be (have to wait for Bob on that one!) .... check
4. 
   
   Move all the furniture from old "Pretty Room" into new "Family Room" (sounds better!) ... check
5. 
   
   Paint old "Pretty Room" (Benjamin Moore "Philadelphia Cream") ... check
6. 
   
   Move dining table from Kitchen into new "Breakfast Room" (weighs a ton and had to be taken apart) ... check
7. 
   
   Enjoy dinner last night with the kids in the new "Breakfast Room" (that sounds odd!) ... check 

Here are some before's and after's

An old sad fireplace and I never ever liked that red!

New clean lines - love the green and white!

it will get there - still need the chair rail ...

again ... needs stuff on the walls - but what a wonderful difference!

The house has a totally different flow and feel to it - it's like we've had a new extension put on it ... We never ever used the red dinning room for anything - only when we have visitors do we go in there, but it was pretty much one of those rooms that you don't even look at when you come in - now I have to remind myself to go in there and enjoy it. I knew that the green and white would lighten it up but I could never have imagined how much. I cannot wait for Bob to come home and see it all.

And so ... what to do with the kitchen because that is one big empty room now. Again - that has added a ton of light taking the dining table away, but something has to fill up that corner. I am of course looking into what IKEA can do for us and so far I have a pretty good idea. I want to make it a nice craft/homework/computer area for the kids because I do like having them around me in the kitchen when I cook - I think it is how it should be! I'll think some more - Bob comes home on midnight this Thursday so hopefully we'll figure something out together!

Maia went skating yesterday and when I came to pick her up this is what she looked like ... I was of course a bit surprised and upset to see her like that and she of course was in pain and upset that every time she needed to itch her nose it hurt a lot. Poor Maia. We put a lot of lotion on it and hopefully it'll be healed and gone soon enough. And guess what - it wasn't even the skating that did it - it was just as they left school to walk to the Canal, she was falling behind and wanted to catch up  - but she tripped and fell head first onto the sidewalk - owee ow ow!!!  

All three of them are supposed to go to the Canal today - the whole School is going. They were supposed to have an Olympic day organized by the Grade 6's but because we've had very little snow they had to cancel that and instead opted to take the whole school skating ... guess what - it has been snowing all night and is still snowing a lot ... more than I have seen for over a month - what a shame, I'm not at all sure they will be able to skate today - oh well, I'll see what they say when they all three tumble into the car at pick-up time and fight to be the first with the "Three Good Things"!

Now I shall go hang up some stuff on the walls and make the breakfast room even nicer. The kids have planned that we'll have a big chalk board on one of the walls for them to write their weekly stuff on - it's a great idea - I love that chalk board paint but I haven't told Bob about this plan - what if he hates it (not in a million years would he tell me :)

Have a good day!

Well ... That was Fun - NOT!

So I didn't write for a while thinking I'd write when I knew for sure about the job and guess what - I know for sure ... that there isn't a job to be had!!!

The Director "forgot" to get it cleared with the Board and while he was on holiday somewhere nice and warm for ten days I spent the time trying to figure out what exactly I wanted out of this position so that once he got back I was ready with my "demands" ... however, he kept changing the role, the hours and the pay and in the end I just said "Enough Already" ... and declined the offer totally.

After all - they were the ones who out of the blue offered me the position and in the end I found I was the one doing all the running and figuring out how to do things. I am disappointed and upset with the way they handled it all but I'm also happy that I now don't need to worry about the kid's being off sick or how to handle the summer holidays!

It's their loss!

On a much more positive note Kirsten and the girls have just left this morning after a fantastic four days of fun, play, shopping, decorating, chatting and wine drinking and I just wish she could have stayed another week. The kids were plotting this morning before school how to make the girls stay and go to school here instead, but they weren't fast enough and now Kirsten, Grace and Sylvie are probably at the border on their way home ... shame!

I had this fantastic idea last week that I had to move the dining room to the back of the living room and then turn what was the dining room into the front family room and what was the family room into the daily dining area - so now it's all go go go again. New paints, new brushes, new colors and lots of fun! Love it!

Last night while Bob was still here we moved the dining room furniture - Crikey that is one heavy table and we had to take it outside and through the garage as it wouldn't fit through the doors inside! However, once we were all around the table having wonderful pasta and meatballs made by Kirsten it was clear to all of us that it is perfect this way. With all the windows it is a great room to enjoy dinner and good company!

I have told Bob I need a big hole in the wall between kitchen and dinning area - he claims it is not a problem so surely all three rooms will be done just after my birthday in March since he's home that week. Can't wait.

Valentine was fun ...

... except for the the "little" blip of Casper eating the face of Sylvie's stuffie which she's had since she was 18 month. Fortunately I managed (don't quite know how!) to sew the face back together and with Sylvie's help we found fabric for his nose and made Olla Bolla (I have NO idea if that is the correct spelling!) look (sort of) like he had before Casper got his teeth into him. Oh - there were tears but with the help of pictures sent by Mark and the girl's drawing his face I managed to do a face that was approved by Sylvie and all was well after about an hour of drama!

Kids are great - we took Grace and Sylvie skating on the Canal on Saturday. They had never skated before and they did SO well. They kept on going and didn't stop for over an hour. It was good fun.

Grace spent a lot of time laughing while lying on the ground and Sylvie overcame her struggles with the figure skates - they had a great time and despite ending up with blisters I'm sure they'd come back skating on the Canal again!

Jack had been invited to an Ottawa 67's Hockey Game by the neighbor so he didn't join us. He was over the moon though and had a great time.

So ... no new job after all but lots to do and happy to do it ...