Sunday morning my oldest has drawing classes, and he was refusing to go recently because he was “too busy” pretending to be a cowboy. He and his brother were both galloping around wearing cowboy hats. After I promised that, he could return to playing cowboys after drawing he dropped the hat and off we went. As soon as we returned, I was roped into their pretend play.
“Where are your horses?” I asked
“We don’t have horses,” they said
“Do you want horses?” I asked
“YES” they said
“Where do we get some?” they asked
“We make them,” I said
The Dali Museum: St. Petersburg
When I turned 16 many many moons ago I did not ask for a party instead I asked to go to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). My dad took the day off work (which never happened) and my mom arranged for my three siblings to be escorted to and from school. My boyfriend at the time came along and the four of us headed to Toronto for the day.
This was my first trip to an art gallery, or at least the first one that I remember. Years later, I became a student at the Ontario College of Art and Design. OCAD is in the backyard of the AGO, and my student card served as entrance to the AGO thus I was in frequent attendance. Continue reading
27 Canadians a day are diagnosed with a brain tumour, I WAS one of them.
On March 18th of last year I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and it was life changing. I believe that no one should hear the words “you have a brain tumour”, but it will probably continue to happen. Which is why it is so important for me to support organizations like the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada that help those of us unfortunate enough to have heard those words.
This is why I’m fundraising for Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. Patients and families need information, support and education. We also need more research. There are too few treatments for this disease and survival needs to be improved. Continue reading
Surprise, we are having a party
This year when I was talking about birthday plans with my oldest, we gave him the option of having a party or going skiing. He picked skiing, which is fantastic. We were more than happy to try something new with the kids and especially because he wanted to do it so badly. Unfortunately, he got sick as soon as we got there, and missed going skiing.
I also know that this time in our lives is fleeting. Birthdays are a reminder that our kids (and all of us) are getting older by the second, and I just couldn’t skip the party. I can see that there is a limited number of birthday parties left before the kids are too cool to have their parents involved in birthday celebrations so while I can I am going to celebrate. Continue reading
Crawling out from under a rock
I just finished writing four exams, and I feel like I have been in hiding for a month, or maybe four. I am so excited to be finished for the semester; it is hard to meet the needs of my kids, husband and myself as a full-time student. There is a reason why you are supposed to go to University before you have kids; it is easier without a posse in tow.
You know that work life balance or in my current case the study life balance that people speak of; I don’t think that it exists. It’s just a big jumbled up mess of life. Since I have had kids I have worked full-time, traveled weekly for work, worked from home, been a stay at home mom, worked from home and I have been a full-time student. Each has its own challenges but I have yet to find a balance that works, therefore I have decided that it doesn’t exists. I have given up on the notion of finding it. Continue reading
Grass Block Cake
I knew that it was inevitable at some point my kids would be talking about something I knew nothing about. That day has arrived. Minecraft has invaded. I still do not understand it completely, but my oldest loves it. He looks forward to computer class once a week when he gets to play it and the rest of the week he talks about it.
On his birthday, I made him a grass block cake. In Minecraft, everything is built from blocks, and apparently, grass comes in blocks too. The cake is made from two 8×8 chocolate cakes frosted with chocolate icing, and the top is frosted with green icing. I used the Wilton grass tip (233) to make the green icing look like grass.
I just want snow
I know that I have readers all over the world, and for those of you still digging yourselves out of the snow you might be surprised that my son asked for snow for his birthday. It has been 2 years since he has been able to play in the snow. I have fond memories of playing in the snow when I was a kid, and so I do understand his request. When asked if he wanted to go skiing or have a birthday party he opted to go skiing, which really impressed upon me how important this was to him.
So we rented a ski condo from a friend, packed up our (newly purchased/borrowed/knitted) snow gear and set out for the mountain. In an effort to make the most of our weekend I booked lessons for the kids and my husband who had never skied or snowboarded before.
I learned to ski when I was a kid and skied through highschool as part of the ski club but it has been 16 years at best guess since I have skied. To be truthful I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t remember how, or that I wouldn’t be much good. That whole brain tumour, metal plate in my head thing has made be overly cautious. I was also nervous about the movement and potentially getting dizzy. I am 100% OK when I am walking but I have had some movement issues post surgery. But I am so happy to report that I skied (wearing a helmet) for two days. My body was sore but my heart was full. I am happy to have been able to do something that I really enjoy.
The birthday boy unfortunately had a different experience. Five minutes into his ski lesson my husband took the call to pick my son up because he had been sick. They both missed their lessons, and the birthday boy spent the next two days in bed with the flu. I felt awful for him. He did get on skies briefly, threw some snowballs and went for a sled ride but he missed out.
My youngest however has proven to be a true snow bunny. My husband was able to reschedule his snowboarding lesson and would do it again, and I conquered a small fear, so all in all the trip was a success. We will be back at it next year, hopefully earlier in the season!
In true Making a Life fashion I knit the kids matching multi-colour hats and for myself a white/orange winter hats for the occasion.
Minion Cupcakes
I am that mom that sends cupcakes to school for her kid’s birthday, please don’t hate me, I like baking. One of the kids in my son’s class asked him how many days it took me to make them! Honestly as you might be able to tell these were very quick, from start to finish it didn’t take more than 2 hours including baking time.
I challenged myself to make and decorate cupcakes without going to the grocery store. It’s beginning to look like Michael’s in many parts of my house and it’s about time that I used some of the supplies I have. Believe it or not I had minion cupcake wrappers, no doubt I saw them somewhere cheap one day and bought them (then forgot about them). So Minion’s were the theme. With cake mix, frosting, food colouring, eggs, oil, white lifesavers, and chocolate chips on hand I got to work. Here was the result.
Hiatus
Every once in a while it’s important to take a break. A break from things you love (like writing this blog) and things that you don’t. Recently I went on vacation and took a break from many things including parenting. My husband and I went away for a few days together because it’s important for our marriage. I love my kids but I love my husband too, and sometimes we need to be together without the kids. Thankfully my parents are happy to step in and have let us escape more than once.
We contemplated going on a cruise but I have in the past struggled with motion, and given that my brain is still healing we opted for a land based adventure. I may have been fine on a cruise but when someone was meddling around in the part of my brain that controls balance I am going to air on the side of caution for the next 6 months or so.
Our land based adventure involved a fair amount of driving, which for me means a fair amount of knitting. I knit a pair of socks while we were cruising around south Florida. We went to the Florida Keys and Miami. We had a few very relaxing kid free days with lots of time to chat (if you know my husband you understand the humour). Anyway it gave us time to reconnect which is critical to the success of our marriage.
We started just south of Tampa and drove to Homestead where we stayed in a dive (which was a bit of an accident), but we survived the night. We also took the opportunity to hit up Red Lobster. It has been years since I have been to Red Lobster (we don’t have one where we live), and those cheese buns are fantastic.
In the AM we made a quick escape to the Keys and drove all the way to Key West where we spent the day, and evening. We didn’t stay in Key West because it’s pricey, instead we opted to stay in Marathon (another of the keys). In the morning after a trip to IHOP (how can you resist) we drove to Miami Beach. Our hotel was perfectly positioned right on the beach. We walked the beach for hours while I took too many photos. We had dinner on the strip and I drank the biggest margarita I have ever seen, twice.
We spent the following day relaxing poolside before the drive back along alligator alley to life with kids. The kids had an amazing time with their grandparents (pictures below prove it), and we had a great time without them. It’s important for them to spend a little time without us, and for us to spend time without them, we all appreciate each other more after a little time apart.
A Year Later, I am a Survivor
A year ago today, on March 18, 2015 I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. It was a very dark day. The ER doc softened the blow as best as he could but I was still in shock standing in the hallway of the emergency department. I remember walking out of the ER in a daze to wait for my husband who was organizing childcare for the kids. When he arrived I told him I had a brain tumour and he didn’t believe me. He tried to tell me that I didn’t, and I showed him the paper in my hand that said I did.
That was a year ago, and a lot has happened since. There were a dark few days but I was motivated my by children to get my crap together and get out of bed, which is where I would have stayed if I had my way. A craniotomy to remove the tumour was performed in August of 2015. The entire process was terrifying and painful. Six months later I have some very minimal side effects but nothing that stops me from living a full life. Case in point, this past weekend I went skiing (my tumour was in the part of my brain that controls balance).
Last night I read John Grisham’s “The Tumor: A Non-Legal Thriller” and bawled through the whole thing. If you are interested it’s available for free from Amazon. Thankfully I was reading it this year and not last year because that would have been a disaster. Can you imagine reading a graphic novel about brain surgery the day before you are diagnosed with a brain tumour? Talk about bad timing. If you are going for brain surgery soon do not read this book until you have recovered. After reading Grisham’s thriller I am once again reminded how lucky I was, because it could have been so much worse. SO MUCH WORSE.
Along with the pain and fear of the last year I learned some very valuable lessons. In keeping with my need to make, I fashioned myself this bracelet just in case I forget that I am a s
urvivor. Although I am still reminded every time I look at myself in the mirror, and the area of hair that was shaved for surgery is about 3 inches long and sticking straight out. I have started a brain tumour hair trend, I hope it never catches on, I don’t mind being the only one with crazy hair.
It’s fair to say that this was the hardest year of my life to date, but as the saying goes “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” It didn’t kill me. I am stronger, but it’s probably just the titanium plate in my head 😉
Making A Life 