• Giving Less of A F*ck.

    02/01/2018 - By 

    In 2018, I’m making some changes. Not resolutions. But big changes out of necessity. My body can tell when I’m unhappy and depressed- it gives up on me. My skin gets bad, my knees give out, colds last forever, my muscles hurt and my sleep suffers. I am a mess. I am sick of being a mess. So, 2018 is going to be the year where I get my shit together, pardon my French. And you can read about it here, raw and honest and uncut. I’m solving my gut problems. Or I’m going to try. I’m redoing the Gut Makeover…

  • Snuggle Power Up 200% …..

    30/11/2017 - By 

      Today is a sick day for Hunter. What are your kids like when they are sick? Hunter is alternating between needing a lot of snuggles and being extremely cranky….like you would expect. You know your kids are not feeling well when you suggest a nap and they don’t even fight you on it! If he isn’t better tomorrow, off to the Dr we go. How is your day going?

  • Happy kitty, purr purr purr

    Gratitude

    07/11/2017 - By 

    In the past, I was never one to make a gratitude journal. I’m weird and always tried to start one when I was in a funk or very depressed. It’s hard to write what you do have when you are in a mood that makes you reflect on what others don’t have.  You think, “Sure. I have that but it means that this other person in a less fortunate situation doesn’t. I’m spoiled.” This is not the right way to start a gratitude journal. (Obviously. As I have learned, the hard way.) So I was skeptical that it even works.…

  • Almost Two Months Since We Moved.

    24/10/2017 - By 

    It has been almost two months since we moved from the other side of the city. I didn’t think it would feel very different, but it has, and that has shocked all of us. It is different in a lot of good ways. Our street is quieter, for one. Before, we lived on a very major road that everyone seemed to use for commuting. We were just off a highway, so cars would forget to slow down and would roar through our street, forgetting to look for kids, despite the fact that we lived four blocks away from a school.…

  • The One Thing I Do With My Kids to Make Them Happier and More Confident.

    19/10/2017 - By 

    Whenever I speak to my friends who don’t have kids yet, they relate to my stories about my kids by sharing stories of when they were a kid. We start to talk about fond childhood memories and I find that one type of memory always sticks out. That is the time we spent with one parent and had their full attention; no technology, no distractions, nobody interrupting. The memories are all different, of course, but they all have the same feel. Whether it was baking cookies, reading together (even quietly and beside each other rather than to each other), throwing…

  • Why Do We Have To Go To School?

    26/09/2017 - By 

    Every morning for my kids is a struggle. Hunter and Isabella are resistant to go to their new school. Isabella worries that her classmates secretly don’t fully accept her, even though she is extremely happy with her teacher and the school itself. Hunter says he is waiting until we move back to our old neighbourhood. I asked him if he had made any new friends and he said, “I don’t need any. I already have friends across town”. When I told him that it was good to have friends in his class and close-by, he just shrugged. Hunter is having…

  • Why I Am Suddenly So Concerned with Giving My Kids Healthy Breakfasts.

    25/09/2017 - By 

    I had an epiphany this weekend. My kids came up twenty minutes after finishing breakfast and they were hungry already….and crabby.  I asked Isabella what she had eaten and she said, ‘an apple sauce and some cereal without milk’. I realized that what she had eaten was basically a sugar bomb and it was no wonder she was hungry! Now that we aren’t moving anymore, and that I’m mostly unpacked, it is time to get on top of things again. I decided we would have more filling breakfasts full of real food. I also decided I would carve out time to…

  • We are Small House Living!

    20/09/2017 - By 

    We made it. Phew. It was a long road filled with a lot of boxes and challenges and red tape and grunting and swearing and some white-knuckle moments, but we made it. We are now officially moved into our townhouse across the city. Built in 1981 and coming in at around 870 square feet of finished living space, it is a lot tinier than our 1600 sq foot rental. Our family has adapted nicely to small-space living! Almost all of our furniture didn’t fit (some, quite literally, couldn’t fit through the door), so was sold to make room (and funds)…

  • My Life Is Boxes

    16/08/2017 - By 

    Exciting news! We are moving out of our cave of a townhouse and ending our rental life. With a government program, (Attainable Homes), we were able to get help with a down payment and we’re buying a small townhouse. For years, Josh and I have been obsessed with moving into the smallest space that would be comfortable for our family. We love the tiny house movement because it has finally caught up with our sensibilities. I know that, as you have a family it is normal to move up in space, but we have decided to do the opposite. We…

  • Monday Feels

    19/06/2017 - By 

    Today feels like….   We had such a busy weekend that I’m having trouble getting back into the groove. I hope everyone had a happy Father’s Day weekend, whether it was celebrating with one or in memory of one. Our family had a great time. We went to The Hangar Flight Museum all day Saturday and then Heritage Park on Sunday, followed by (amazing!) sushi at Momoyama Sushi here in Calgary. But now, exhausted. I cannot have caffeine since I am still doing the Gut Makeover meal plan, so strong herbal tea smells will have to revive me. Have a…