Inadequate Materials

After we had to let Finnegan go (and I swear I'll stop talking about this soon. Every time I start a new blog post, it seems to come out again. This is cheaper than therapy.), I must have been suffering from some residual guilt or something, because I got into this mode where I was obsessed with making life more luxurious for my remaining two pets. So, off to the sewing machine I went and made new beds for them. Then I went a step further and decided that the cat needed me to convert an old IKEA table into an activity station for him, with his new bed underneath. Here is what that looked like: Note that there is no sign of the cat anywhere in this picture. That is the normal state of his activity station/bed. Instead, this is where the cat can generally be found at any given time of the day or night: On someone else's bed. Under a completely different table, surrounded by clutter. On the floor, in Finnegan's old spot. In the la...

With a big cross-country move comes some big changes. I spent my last three years in Manitoba substitute teaching at the kids' school. Returning to work on a part-time basis was literally the best thing I could have done for my mental health, and I miss it a great deal. Unfortunately, there are factors that make getting onto a sub list here difficult. We'd need a second car, I'd need some kind of backup child care plan for my youngest, and not being bilingual here really limits me, to name just a few. So it looks like that goal will have to wait a while. But fear not! You know me. I roll with the punches! To keep myself busy, I have been working VERY slowly on getting our boring newly-build house looking like humans actually live in it (the kids and pets have been doing their part by systematically demolishing the finish on the hardwood floors). And what I've lost in hireability here, I've gained tenfold in thrifting opportunities. This area of the country is an a...

This blog is like the abandoned amusement park at the edge of town. Most of the time it sits around collecting dust and looking sad, leaving passers-by to wonder if anyone has died there. And then, just when you think someone's going to come along, bulldoze the whole thing and build a new cookie-cutter neighbourhood, the old ferris wheel slowly lurches back to life in the middle of the night. Maybe if I had a van load of teenagers and a talking dog to sort things out, I'd have a working operation on my hands. So, I left you more than a year ago in buggy Manitoba. We are now back in good old Upper Canada, where life is rather different. I like to start with the bad news and then finish up on a high note, so here's the update: The title of my blog is no longer entirely accurate. Back in March, we had to have our 16 year-old dog Finnegan put down. Despite having the blood work of a puppy right to the bitter end, he'd been suffering with increasingly severe arthritis si...