Feast or famine

It seems to be feast or famine over in this end of town. I'm missing out on PCs company as one of her CUs hit the skids and is house bound for the week.

I know I'll catch up with the details next week. The funny thing is I know I didn't give up chocolate for Lent!

Stuffed

Well, it's not like the shite has hit the fan, in so many words, it just feels like it.

March is usually a blah month for me, and it's continuing to be so.

Being on maternity leave, I thought, silly me, that things would be merry and bright and sunshine and roses. The closest I've come to roses is a bed of thorns.

In relation to world problems, mine are slight and certainly self-inflicted. They're there nonetheless, and, well, for several, time is the only thing to heal.

In the meantime, weather is turning up, which to me, might be a good thing, if I could just motivate myself to put down the fork and take a handful of CUs with me and go for a walk instead of forcing down my feelings, and self-medicating with Girl Guide Cookies. (Having 28 cartons in the house isn't helping either.)

Sad

Today I got a call from my X-DH's partner asking for CU-2's passport information. From previous conversations with CU-2, I've been told of her other parent's pending re-nuputuals this summer and the yearly promise to visit another continent. Apparently this year it might actually be true.

The telephone conversation was mildly distrubing for one reason, X-DH wasn't making the call. He almost never does. Everything is passed through the non-legal non-custodial step parent. Makes me wonder who is more important, his feelings or his children. Actually, I don't think I wonder any more.

At the end of the conversation, partner got the information he needed to make the arrangements for the trip. No offer to tell me when or where. I decided I could have asked, but I would have risked getting told some choice words, so why bother. It will all come out in due time.

On a similar wave length, I was reading in the news, the story of a young girl who was held, not on her own accord, for three months, and finally got away. As I read the details of the abuse, I thought that the techniques used are not that different from what my CUs have experienced. And so I worry. (I've been told my worries are misplaced.)

Which leads me to what I've been wanting to blog about (just to get it out of my head). Every night that my CUs are not home, I put the porch light on. Every night they are home, the light is turned off. CUs if you ever read this, know that this tradition will go on. There's a place for you here. Always. No matter what. Je t'aime.

All's well that ends well

I wish I could say all is well here. One word: bickering.

My MOL once referred to us as the Bickersons - as in a family name. How fitting is that for us.

We had a ray of sunshine earlier last week when hell froze over and my DXH sent through CU-1 and 2s report cards. It was significant permafrost here when CU-1s grades came back stronger then the first term. Praise the Saints!

For a whole 24 hours every one woke up happy. Down right chipper. Then back to cloud cover, as usual.

We're under a lot of stress from a significant household renovation. DH is, well, probably scared shitless spending this amount of money, especially considering within the last three years we'd seriously had to consider visiting our local food bank. (For us, things tend to go bust, bust, bust or boom, but in a bad way. So far, things have been holdering their own though, and I'm not trying to court troubles. My psoriasis is going over time on me, which means I must be super stressed out too. The last time things flared up this badly was during "The Troubles" when DXH and I were too close to tango and were in the heat of a mediated (dis)agreement.)

I'm hoping this too will pass. We've got probably another six weeks on the build (from the project plan we've received), and then it's time to put the house back together.

Framed!

We've been framed! At least there's been a start to framing of the addition. We had three guys wacking away at wood from 7:30 this morning to late into the afternoon.

(This is the third wall going up.)

I poked around the site upon coming home this evening. It feels so little. DH keeps telling me to keep the faith, that it'll be worthwhile.

I hope I believe him.

And so it begins, take two

I've been doing a lot of grousing at this end of things. My poor DH has had to hear me go on and on and on about the slow start to the construction project. Stuff beyond my control in this relationship (weather for example) has slowed the start.

I woke up to a lot of banging this morning with DH breaking Rule #1 to tell me the guys were outside working on the framing.

[Insert sound of record needle being dragged over an old LP.]

DH just came in to pick up his work stuff after dropping CU-3 off at school. "Too cold" he announces between an icicle incrusted mustache.

Apparently the guys are doing some prep. work only (cutting down the TechnoPosts) and then are shutting down the site. (-43 F with the wind chill is a bit, um, brisk I'll admit). They'll try again tomorrow.

Good for them. Bad for me. I'm getting cabin fever. TV is becoming a bunch of repeats. I've almost caught up on all the laundry (there's just no place to put it away). I'm loosing the larger brain cells that drive the interest to read, or write long prose. (I suspect it's lack of fresh air and sunshine because of the lousey weather.)

Maybe I should throw a party. Lots of whine and cheese here! ;-)

The little shit

Baby, if you haven't noticed yet, it's cold outside. Today has been identified as perhaps the second coldest day of this week. Possibly this month. To that end, our dear LS (little shit, aka CU-3) decided to use her *magic finger* to slide the crucial piece of steel from one side to the other, thus locking her dear parents on one side of the door, while she and CU-4 were snuggly on the other side.

Thanks to her Maman's ingenuity, and Papa's ability to execute good ideas, we all are back on the same side of the door now. CU-3 is a little bit unhappy about this, for many many reasons.

It's midnight and all is well

No snow yet, though the wind is definitely picking up. I'm kind of hoping for a snow day. I haven't had one of those in several years. Regretably, if it comes to fruition, CU-1 and 2 will only be around for part of the day. It's cross-over day.

Speaking of cross-over - I'd like to introduce another blog I spy. I spy is my virtual gallery. A bit of virtual exhibitionism. I'm hoping to post regularly to this site, much like Daily Dose of Imagery but I'm less inclined to learn all the ins and outs of technology to show things off like he does.

Winter, take two

Earlier this week I suggested Spring might be just around the corner. Well, maybe not. Currently, we're under a severe weather warning for snow and snow and a bit more snow just to be sure.

I believe the saying for March was in like a lion, out like a lamb?

We'll see if Mother Nature actually brings her full furry down on us for daring to think that we might be done with the snow gear for another year.