Right now, with all the sports seasons overlapping, we are very busy. We have two or three activities to go to almost every night. Eleanor has swimming 4 times a week. Ethan has hockey tryouts, football and swimming. Rebecca has gymnastics, swimming and dance. And soccer season is only a couple of weeks away.
Even Siobhan (who turns 2 this weekend—2 days after Rebecca turns 7!), is taking gymnastics and swimming.
Siobhan loves going to gymnastics and swimming! I think it’s going to be hard for her to choose what sports/activities she wants to be involved in when she’s older because she seems to be interested in everything she sees.
She loves, I mean LOVES hockey, and Tom said she recently discovered the figure skaters. He ushered her away quickly in case she decided she didn’t want to play hockey (God forbid).
Getting her out the door Monday is only easy because we can say it’s her “bounce, bounce, bounce day” (gymnastics). Tom’s mom takes her to gymnastics and reports that she smiles from the moment that she walks in the door.
Tuesdays, I take her to swimming and I have to be careful not to say the word “swimming” during dinner, or she will stop eating and just yell “My fwimming!” until we leave for the pool.
One Wednesday, I made the mistake of bringing Siobhan to the dance studio with me. Rebecca went into one studio and began her class while Siobhan played with Lego. It was all going really well, until the studio door near where we were sitting opened up. Siobhan was intrigued.
As the class was leaving, she poked her head into the studio. Another class was going in, and the music came on.
When the class was about to start, I tried to drag her away, but she was having none of it! The teacher told me she had a small class that day and Siobhan and Eleanor (who was also with us) could stay and watch the class.
I don’t think she expected it to turn into this:
I’m thinking she might want to take dance lessons too. Thankfully, Eleanor will be old enough to drive herself soon because that’s a lot of activities!
I am one of those people who never carries cash. I pay for almost everything with my debit card. Thankfully, most establishments are set up with debit machines, so it’s rarely a problem…except on those fun occasions when you park in an underground parking lot and have to pay with nickels and dimes that you find under your car seat because there is no way you are going all the way back to street level to the bank machine. Not that I’ve ever experienced that—often.
So, I guess all this talk of a cashless society really doesn’t phase me. Is it unpatriotic to say I will not miss the penny? Pennies are the reason purses are so heavy! I say good riddance my little copper friend. As a matter of fact, I will be donating my pennies to Pennies From Heaven.
Not only will I not miss the penny, I look forward to the demise of the nickel, dime, quarter, loonie, and twoonie! I do, however, think the new 50 and 100 dollar bills are totally cool, and if you could actually spend them anywhere, I would suggest keeping them for their cool factor.
I might save a few coins and bills though. One day, you will be able to show them to your grandkids, and they will look at them the way our kids look at records or typewriters.
Other than the obvious daily phone calls from my parents about how to pay for things, I think a cashless society is a brilliant idea! So, where do I get my chip implanted? What? You mean I’m still going to have to carry my phone or my bank card?
I know, I know, you’re concerned about your privacy, the government being able to track your every move, see what you’re buying when. I say, if you’re not doing anything illegal, shouldn’t matter. If the government wants to monitor my menstrual flow by when I buy tampons, feel free!
A cashless society, means no more people getting robbed in the streets. You will have to be way smarter to rob people now.
So, how will this work? Well, that’s the great debate right now. The Canadian Mint is offering a reward for software developers to come up with the “Mint Chip” (which sounds delicious, by the way), an app that will rid us of our cumbersome cash all together. Funny enough, the reward is a big ole pile of gold…nothing says futuristic like a pot of gold.
Now, All you have to do is come up with an app that will change the entire way society functions! I already sent my husband the details, so I am sure we will be depositing our gold and spending it on our phones in no time!
It has been a month now since I changed careers, and although I knew it was going to change my life, I’m not sure I realized exactly how much so.
I realized last night, that I spend about three hours more A DAY with my children now. In a regular work week, that’s fifteen hours a week. Over an entire year, that is 780 hours! I will spend an extra month with my children this year—that is pretty significant.
That extra time means that I get to eat dinner with my family every night. Before, I was getting home at 8:00pm almost every night, and because three of our kids go to their “other” parent's on weekends, I would only have dinner with them on Sundays. I have missed out on a lot of great dinner conversations. At our house, the dinner table is where we learn about each other’s day. I’m so happy to be there for that now.
I have also been going to watch dance classes, gymnastics, and swimming. I am even taking our youngest to Parent and Tot swimming—something that would have been crammed into a busy weekend before. I also got to go for a tour of the facility where our son has his goalie clinics. He has been going there for years, and I have never set foot inside it before. I even got to see the treadmill you can skate on—it’s pretty cool!
Oooh, and the most exciting thing is, I am hoping to coach my daughter’s soccer team this year! This is something I have always wanted to do, but couldn’t, because of my schedule. I haven’t heard back from the league yet, but just the fact that I could put my name in to be considered is fantastic!
It’s not ALL about the kids either; working from home has allowed me some “Me Time” too. Not only in the TEN HOURS a week I am saving in commuting time, but because my schedule is more flexible. I often choose to work in the evening (after the kids go to bed), so that I can take some time during the day to have lunch with a friend or visit family.
Sometimes, I combine the two. Recently, I worked from the salon! I’m not kidding! I took my laptop to the salon and worked while I got my colour done.Since my hairdresser is also someone I have been friends with since I was six, this was a social visit too.
I know, I know, you can’t say you got your hair done without photographic evidence of the results, so here is a before and after:
It is so nice to work for a company who allows me so much flexibility, and truly understands my values. My only regret is that I didn’t make this switch ten years ago. Of course, ten years ago this job didn’t exist.
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