Half

Well life just keeps truckin' along! And it only ever seems that I'm able to get things 'half' done. *Sigh*
Half the laundry cleaned, half the laundry folded, half of it put away. Half the kitchen cleaned up, half still dirty. Half the bathrooms cleaned, half the dusting or vacuuming accomplished. Half, half, half!

Such is the life of a mother of two small children I suppose! At times I can laugh about it, sometimes cry but mostly I just stand in the middle of the room and rip out my hair with one child running circles around me and the other snotting on my freshly cleaned jeans.

Hopefully you've seen the pictures I was able to finally post... again I really narrowed it down to about half of what I wanted to post but time is always a crunch! That being said I've decided to close my Facebook account so that I don't get my time sucked into the vortex of the cyber world.

Although still exstatic with our house and enamoured with my children the daily grind of half time single parenting is beginning to take it's toll. I'm much of the time, lonely. And despite meeting some great new friends (parents of Ruby's preschool friends) we're all busy at different times and thus don't get together near as often as my heart desires!

The truck needs two ball joints replace at a price tag of $1k which we simply don't have so driving is restricted from the highway meaning I can't go visit family! So the loneliness prevails as the days grow darker and longer :(

Halloween was fun despite Nick not being here. He did send his Mum Brenda to help me which is always appreciated! She brought up some chili and corn muffins! She was SUPER happy to be able to travel up and see our new nephew Kane born the day before Halloween to Nick's younger brother Adam and his fiance Elyse! Haven't met the little gaffer yet but pictures show him lookin' like his Daddy!

Brenda arrived and the work began! Dinner at 4:30 so that we could get into costumes and start knocking on doors for just after 5. I'm amazed I'm not freakin' skinny at the amount of time I spend running and sweating after kids..... But we did it! Ruby was a witch and Eli a skeleton. He could barely walk and couldn't get up after falling over as I had to put his snow suit underneath his costume ... giving him the 'sumo  suit' effect. Brenda and I howled!

It was peeing rain outside but I threw the cover on the double stroller and off we went! We really only did 10 houses but it was enough for the age of our little kids. There wasn't really anyone out due to the weather. As soon as we reached the last house (our neighbour's) Murphy's Law the rain stopped! Oh well!

Ruby was HILARIOUS having to stop after almost each house to weigh the buckets and make sure they were even! God FORBID Eli has more than she!  

Ahhh. She is cute.

Nick is here, there and everywhere, so I just keep them home fires burnin' until his long awaited return. He was home last weekend for a few days before he was off again. But in the time he was home he took on the project of reorganizing the pantry. He's taken all our items and put them into labelled mason jars. It is PERDY!

We also managed to bottle the red wine which we had made from a kit and put in the carbuoy under the stairs in our ahem, 'wine cellar.' It tastes delicious! I was truly surprised! In the next free weekend we will be doing the same with the white wine and in December with the much anticipated rhubarb wine!

Still have a few things to do outside before the really cold weather sets in. The maples shading the garden were dug up and taken away once I'd advertised them on Facebook. Hopefully we'll have the funds in the spring to build the pergola, which will allow light while also providing a bit of privacy from the neighbours.

 I have to say I am EXCITED for Christmas! This will be the first time Ruby really has any understanding of what it is about. I'm just dying to start playing Christmas music but I suppose I'll wait until at least the middle of the month! LOL! Should be fun decorating, and I have lots of ideas. I've even purchased some children's books from Scholastic about the 'true' meaning of Christmas with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Am excited to read them to the kids.... it reminds me of a fight we used to have growing up .... when decorating the Christmas tree we'd always have a brawl over who got to put the 'baby Jesus' ornament up on the tree. LOL! I swear Mum finally got the good notion, when packing up after Christmas to write on a paper napkin taped to the ornament, whomever's had put up the ornament that year. Although we'd always try and swindle her into believing that the name meant whomever's turn it was next year! She was rarely ever fooled!  Let the fun begin!

For now we are simply enjoying the beauty that is fall. All the leaves are vibrant red or brilliant yellow. Our front yard is littered with leaves. Nick has plans to rake them all up tomorrow, I'll put the kids in rain pants and out we'll go to frolick in the piles. The simple things are life's little blessings!