The stalls were disgusting. Luckily it is so dark in there that you don't really notice how gross it is. The funny thing about these showers is depending on how close you are to the hot springs source is how hot your shower is. I can't imagine any small children being able to handle the heat of these showers. Having said that, the pressure of your shower is constantly varying depending on how many people are showering at the same time. You are camping so it doesn't seem so annoying at the time.
The problem is we used to live next door to an old man, Charlie. Unbeknownst to us, we shared a water heater with Charlie. Charlie never did laundry because his grandson came and took his clothes to his house. Charlie never did dishes because he took a taxi to a restaurant twice a day. Charlie also apparently rarely if ever showered. Sadly, Charlie now lives in an old folks home and we have a new neighbor named Natalie. Natalie is a nice girl. She smokes but only occasionally outside our window. She keeps to herself. Yes, she has a yappy dog, but she often tells her dog to be quiet so it is all good. The downfall of Natalie is her use of the water. Unlike Charlie, Natalie seems to always be doing laundry or dishes or showering or bathing. It has become a joke between me and Greg that as soon as we get in the shower, she will go and turn on her shower or laundry or faucet and kill the water pressure. It is like this:
You start off with a super strong and hot shower. My family says I like the water to feel like lava. It is kind of true. The one advantage to not having dry skin is the heat doesn't make me all dry. You get your body and wet and just start to defrost when suddenly the water changes from hot to freezing cold. You scream and jump out of the stream of water. A few seconds later, the water turns from freezing to warm but all the water pressure is gone. So you try and rinse off your shampoo with a little trickle of water. The worst is trying to rinse out the conditioner. You feel like the slime will never get off your hair. Sometimes in the midst of this shower, you consider just getting out and finishing later but you are already covered in soap or shampoo when this thought crosses your mind. The shower then goes from full pressure to trickle to medium pressure and ranges in heat from lava to ice for the rest of the time. It is so obnoxious. The funny thing is sometimes it makes me feel like I'm camping.
January 27, 2011
Showering
I love to shower. I not big on baths but I can't seem to get enough of showering. You can ask my husband. We don't pay for water here or the heating of said water so I have developed some pretty wasteful showering habits.
Growing up, my family mostly did camping vacations. I enjoy camping but I am not one who can camp for a super long time without taking a shower. Luckily where we would camp, there were these free showers. Basically they piped some hot springs to go into these shower stalls. Here's a pic:
The stalls were disgusting. Luckily it is so dark in there that you don't really notice how gross it is. The funny thing about these showers is depending on how close you are to the hot springs source is how hot your shower is. I can't imagine any small children being able to handle the heat of these showers. Having said that, the pressure of your shower is constantly varying depending on how many people are showering at the same time. You are camping so it doesn't seem so annoying at the time.
The problem is we used to live next door to an old man, Charlie. Unbeknownst to us, we shared a water heater with Charlie. Charlie never did laundry because his grandson came and took his clothes to his house. Charlie never did dishes because he took a taxi to a restaurant twice a day. Charlie also apparently rarely if ever showered. Sadly, Charlie now lives in an old folks home and we have a new neighbor named Natalie. Natalie is a nice girl. She smokes but only occasionally outside our window. She keeps to herself. Yes, she has a yappy dog, but she often tells her dog to be quiet so it is all good. The downfall of Natalie is her use of the water. Unlike Charlie, Natalie seems to always be doing laundry or dishes or showering or bathing. It has become a joke between me and Greg that as soon as we get in the shower, she will go and turn on her shower or laundry or faucet and kill the water pressure. It is like this:
You start off with a super strong and hot shower. My family says I like the water to feel like lava. It is kind of true. The one advantage to not having dry skin is the heat doesn't make me all dry. You get your body and wet and just start to defrost when suddenly the water changes from hot to freezing cold. You scream and jump out of the stream of water. A few seconds later, the water turns from freezing to warm but all the water pressure is gone. So you try and rinse off your shampoo with a little trickle of water. The worst is trying to rinse out the conditioner. You feel like the slime will never get off your hair. Sometimes in the midst of this shower, you consider just getting out and finishing later but you are already covered in soap or shampoo when this thought crosses your mind. The shower then goes from full pressure to trickle to medium pressure and ranges in heat from lava to ice for the rest of the time. It is so obnoxious. The funny thing is sometimes it makes me feel like I'm camping.
The stalls were disgusting. Luckily it is so dark in there that you don't really notice how gross it is. The funny thing about these showers is depending on how close you are to the hot springs source is how hot your shower is. I can't imagine any small children being able to handle the heat of these showers. Having said that, the pressure of your shower is constantly varying depending on how many people are showering at the same time. You are camping so it doesn't seem so annoying at the time.
The problem is we used to live next door to an old man, Charlie. Unbeknownst to us, we shared a water heater with Charlie. Charlie never did laundry because his grandson came and took his clothes to his house. Charlie never did dishes because he took a taxi to a restaurant twice a day. Charlie also apparently rarely if ever showered. Sadly, Charlie now lives in an old folks home and we have a new neighbor named Natalie. Natalie is a nice girl. She smokes but only occasionally outside our window. She keeps to herself. Yes, she has a yappy dog, but she often tells her dog to be quiet so it is all good. The downfall of Natalie is her use of the water. Unlike Charlie, Natalie seems to always be doing laundry or dishes or showering or bathing. It has become a joke between me and Greg that as soon as we get in the shower, she will go and turn on her shower or laundry or faucet and kill the water pressure. It is like this:
You start off with a super strong and hot shower. My family says I like the water to feel like lava. It is kind of true. The one advantage to not having dry skin is the heat doesn't make me all dry. You get your body and wet and just start to defrost when suddenly the water changes from hot to freezing cold. You scream and jump out of the stream of water. A few seconds later, the water turns from freezing to warm but all the water pressure is gone. So you try and rinse off your shampoo with a little trickle of water. The worst is trying to rinse out the conditioner. You feel like the slime will never get off your hair. Sometimes in the midst of this shower, you consider just getting out and finishing later but you are already covered in soap or shampoo when this thought crosses your mind. The shower then goes from full pressure to trickle to medium pressure and ranges in heat from lava to ice for the rest of the time. It is so obnoxious. The funny thing is sometimes it makes me feel like I'm camping.
January 23, 2011
Bald Eagle
This is just one of those stories for the books. First off, let me preface by saying we are a bit white trash. My sister would gag about this part but last time I was at the thrift store with Tati, she found a stuffed animal she really wanted. It was even a Webkinz (which I realize you can't get the code to activate when you buy it 2nd hand) and Chloe was all thrilled about her recent Llama purchase from Webkinz that she saved up for. It was only $2 so since she was so good, she got to buy it. Of course that is always with the understanding that you can't play with anything from the thrift store without it first being disinfected.
So this is what the unicorn looked like before it was washed. Her name was "Sparkles" and she was "beautiful".
Then I put her in the dryer. Woops. All the fine hairs were singed and matted. I thought she would cry or be mad but all she did was laugh. Then I told her we'd just put "Sparkles" into the garbage. She said,
"It's ok Mom. I still want her."
And I said, "But she needs to get all her yucky hair cut off and then she'll be bald!"
And she said, "(laugh, laugh) Yeah, and her name will be BALD EAGLE!"
So here is Bald Eagle, the beloved (super ghetto) unicorn. Notice not even a tail.
So this is what the unicorn looked like before it was washed. Her name was "Sparkles" and she was "beautiful".
Then I put her in the dryer. Woops. All the fine hairs were singed and matted. I thought she would cry or be mad but all she did was laugh. Then I told her we'd just put "Sparkles" into the garbage. She said,
"It's ok Mom. I still want her."
And I said, "But she needs to get all her yucky hair cut off and then she'll be bald!"
And she said, "(laugh, laugh) Yeah, and her name will be BALD EAGLE!"
So here is Bald Eagle, the beloved (super ghetto) unicorn. Notice not even a tail.
January 16, 2011
Christmas Break
We had a busy and lazy Christmas Break. I wish we got more done but that is always how I feel when Greg is only home for limited times and I'm not so physically limber as I normally am. We did accomplish some important tasks though like buy a new car seat (since our other one expired) and get mostly baby ready. I've been feeling the urgency to prepare and hoping it was a sign that things would get underway early but alas, not so. I'm actually wearing a mumu right now as I type this. These won't be my best picture months, that is for sure. At least we're getting closer on the name debates. We might actually have a name agreed upon before we get to the hospital. That will be first for us. Then again, we never knew what we were having with so much advance notice. Anyway, back to the break.
Made some snow angels.
- "We" went ice skating and sledding. Tati almost lost her life on a few fast turns on the sled.
- We went swimming.
- We ate a lot of yummy food.
- Chloe got a hair cut.
Made some snow angels.
- I did a lot of sewing.
- Pulled out two of Chloe's teeth.
- Busted out some VHS tapes and watched movies.
- I converted Chloe to "The Parent Trap" (duh, the original, don't insult me!)
- Found out we are going to have to live in Canada for another year and a half (yeah, I just slipped that one in).
- We went on a sleigh ride with some horses who had some seriously stinky gas. It was like that Seinfeld episode.
 |
| How's this for a family picture? We didn't get any pics of the horses but they were huge! |
- Got a pet (This was Chloe's big present that I forgot to mention earlier and an aquarium.).
 |
| This is Sharky. He is Tati's fish. |
- Killed a pet (Chloe's pet died. Luckily it had a 7-day warranty).
- Got a newer pet.
 | ||
| This is Batty the 2nd. Batty the 1st died. |
 |
| Doesn't he have freaky eyes? |
- Got a new painting.
 |
Isn't that a rad painting? Jeanette and Greg surprised me with it. It is actually based on the following photo Greg took in Colorado. |
- Slept in a lot.
- Ate lots of cheese ball and chocolate.
- We even had a Christmas Fairy do the 12 days of Christmas for us. Chloe is determined to do this next year for somebody else. It was really great to receive a fun treat everyday and honestly it was perfect timing for us with the bad news of staying here longer.
- And got a bunch of snow!
Christmas Day
I remember the good ole days when I would blog about something right after it happened but for now those days are over. I'm proud of myself continuing to document anything at all. And for those of you following Chloe's Artwork blog, those updates are coming too. I hate to pull out the pregnancy card but some days it is a miracle my children receive any food at all.
We got the girls matching pajamas again this year and had them open them up for bedtime. Greg got some new ones too. He said he felt guilty that I didn't get any as well but I assured him I didn't want any maternity ones and I didn't want any normal ones taunting me that they didn't fit. I'll have plenty of time to enjoy new pajamas later. Besides, you know they are all jealous of my mumus. I'm at that phase now when I just wear my undies and a bathrobe most of the morning/afternoon/evening. P.S. Please call before visiting me so you aren't scared of what you might see.
 |
| Matching Owl Jammies |
Christmas Morning:
We read the Christmas story out of the Bible and had Chloe act it out with the world's most awesome Nativity set. I had the best intentions of adding to this set this year with a shepherd but it didn't happen. The girls also really want an angel and star (hint, hint to the Nativity maker).
We strayed from the Gingerbread Snowflake waffles. It isn't that I don't love them. It is just that they are so time consuming especially with all the busy-ness of Christmas morning. So I made my sister's recipe of Sticky Buns. I'll include the recipe at the end for anybody who has never tried this. It was so easy and I even thought they were delicious and I'm the anti-yeast girl.
Now here are a couple shots of present time. Our kids were so excited by everything they got even the most simple stuff which made it super fun for us.
Chloe was so stoked to get socks. I love that about her.
January 9, 2011
Ahhh, She's Crafty! She's just your type!
Maybe it is just the holiday time or maybe it is because it is Winter but brother I have been craft-a-rama lately. The only problem is how much of my house all the supplies consume. This must be why so many women want a special room dedicated to all the mess that these sorts of things entail.
1) Owl ornaments. I made a bunch of these this year. I saw the idea a long time ago on somebody's blog. I'll put the link here. Then I came up with some other styles of owl. I had bought a bunch of felt in preparation of this and must say that even though it was time consuming, it was fun to see all these owls come to life. Speaking of owls, want to see a cute thing from the ever awesome $ store? We're a little nervous if we ever decide to have another child (eek, let's get through this one first before we think about it!) because we won't be able to find another one of these owls. I should've bought more just in case.
2) Russian dolls. We had a set of Russian nesting dolls growing up. My Mom is Russian. But over the years, she had fewer and fewer babies. I have 2 nesting dolls.
For Christmas when I was asking the girls what they'd want for a present, Tati said she wanted a Russian doll that was a stuffed doll. Here I was thinking my daughter came up with the idea herself. However, if you google image "plush Russian doll" you'll see that in fact, she did not invent the idea. Oh well. I can still be impressed. Anyway, it was a lot of trial and error especially since we were making up our own patterns (and kudos to Greg, my pattern maker) and forgetting to account for seam allowance and all that other stuff but here are the finished products:
3) Curtains. We have this enormous front window in our living room. Previously we had these Roman blinds that the previous tenant left here. They were fine enough for us but never really closed all the way so at night it would feel like we were on display for all the freaky window lurkers (not that I've seen them but I always think they are out there, you know?) Well, we've recently discovered that our time in Canada will unfortunately be extended for about another year and a half. With this new time commitment to this apartment, we've been feeling urges to spruce up things that used to just be things we were only going to have to endure for a few more months. The curtain issue was one of them. Again because of the width of the window though, we couldnt' find any curtains (at a reasonable price) that would fill the whole area. Enter Ikea. I love Ikea for so many reasons but I really love their fabric section. Truth be knownst, I hate fabric stores. It all goes back to my youth when my mom would take us to Fabric Well and we'd be trapped there for either was or what seemed like hours. The old ladies were always cranky at Fabric Well and they were always so freaking slow! Now that I'm a mom, I am more painfully aware of how unwelcome a place a fabric store really is for kids but truthfully fabric stores are all the same. I lost a few years off my life recently going to "Fabricland" here. I thought with such a fairy tale name for a store, it would be different but no. Cranky, slow, old ladies who make you feel like you're retarded. Plus when did fabric become so expensive?! As much as I hated Walmart's fabric section because there would inevitably only be one worker who knew how to use the fabric price scanner/printer thing but the prices always out-weighed the inconvenience. Plus, just for the record, measuring in meters in messing my mind too.
1) Owl ornaments. I made a bunch of these this year. I saw the idea a long time ago on somebody's blog. I'll put the link here. Then I came up with some other styles of owl. I had bought a bunch of felt in preparation of this and must say that even though it was time consuming, it was fun to see all these owls come to life. Speaking of owls, want to see a cute thing from the ever awesome $ store? We're a little nervous if we ever decide to have another child (eek, let's get through this one first before we think about it!) because we won't be able to find another one of these owls. I should've bought more just in case.
2) Russian dolls. We had a set of Russian nesting dolls growing up. My Mom is Russian. But over the years, she had fewer and fewer babies. I have 2 nesting dolls.
For Christmas when I was asking the girls what they'd want for a present, Tati said she wanted a Russian doll that was a stuffed doll. Here I was thinking my daughter came up with the idea herself. However, if you google image "plush Russian doll" you'll see that in fact, she did not invent the idea. Oh well. I can still be impressed. Anyway, it was a lot of trial and error especially since we were making up our own patterns (and kudos to Greg, my pattern maker) and forgetting to account for seam allowance and all that other stuff but here are the finished products:
3) Curtains. We have this enormous front window in our living room. Previously we had these Roman blinds that the previous tenant left here. They were fine enough for us but never really closed all the way so at night it would feel like we were on display for all the freaky window lurkers (not that I've seen them but I always think they are out there, you know?) Well, we've recently discovered that our time in Canada will unfortunately be extended for about another year and a half. With this new time commitment to this apartment, we've been feeling urges to spruce up things that used to just be things we were only going to have to endure for a few more months. The curtain issue was one of them. Again because of the width of the window though, we couldnt' find any curtains (at a reasonable price) that would fill the whole area. Enter Ikea. I love Ikea for so many reasons but I really love their fabric section. Truth be knownst, I hate fabric stores. It all goes back to my youth when my mom would take us to Fabric Well and we'd be trapped there for either was or what seemed like hours. The old ladies were always cranky at Fabric Well and they were always so freaking slow! Now that I'm a mom, I am more painfully aware of how unwelcome a place a fabric store really is for kids but truthfully fabric stores are all the same. I lost a few years off my life recently going to "Fabricland" here. I thought with such a fairy tale name for a store, it would be different but no. Cranky, slow, old ladies who make you feel like you're retarded. Plus when did fabric become so expensive?! As much as I hated Walmart's fabric section because there would inevitably only be one worker who knew how to use the fabric price scanner/printer thing but the prices always out-weighed the inconvenience. Plus, just for the record, measuring in meters in messing my mind too.
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