30 Days About Me: Day 24 – Where do we live?

Day 24- Where Do You Live?

Tell us or show us about where you live

The kids and I moved back to the family hobby farm this summer, in Small Town, Ontario, Canada, which is also my hometown.  40 acres surround us, plus horses, cows, geese, chickens, dogs, and cats.  Nice to be reconnecting with childhood friends, making new friends and learning what brought people to the area.  It’s been interesting to see my hometown through my “parent eyes” rather than my “childhood eyes”. 

My kids were born and grew up in a city so it’s been neat to see their wonder of things that are just normal in small towns…horse and buggies, buskers playing downtown on weekends, busy parks during the day where everyone knows eachother, etc.  It’s been an adjustment in remembering that things close earlier here and the library isn’t always open, but we work through it.

 

My “Understanding” of Current Events

 

 

 

Being a SAHM to 6 year old twins can be a bit isolating, especially when we just moved back to the family farm and one of my twins has Autism.  Having said that, one always needs to find humour or the positive in every situation so I thought I would share with the world my interpretation on current events.  Please note, pretty much the only sources of information for me is Facebook, Twitter, a music radio station we listen to in the car, and kids’ shows.  So, here are my ramblings without Googling the items first…

 

PRE-GOOGLING

Norway – with the greatest respect, I know something horrible has happened but, couldn’t tell you any details other than people have died. 

 

RIM is laying off 2,000 people – so many families affected…wait, how big is this company?  Crap, I just upgraded to a Blackberry.

 

US Debt – ummm…how is this “news”?  Haven’t they always been in debt?

 

Somalia – what’s going on? I’m guessing it’s related to famine or AIDS.  Either way, it can’t be good.

 

Ontario weather – I’ve stopped checking the daily weather report.  It’s hot.  Hotter than hell.  High temperature plus humidity makes it about ten million.  Glad I have naturally straight hair.  Sorry curly or wavy haired girls…

 

Amy Winehouse died – too bad.  So young. Unfortunately, with the amount of partying she did, I’m not all that surprised…wait, how many times has she been in rehab?  Didn’t help her apparently.

 

Fabio has become the new Old Spice guy – he’s alive? I really need to see this!!

 

JLo & Marc Anthony split up – oh no! Another fellow family with twins bites the dust. So sad.

 

POST – GOOGLING

Oh Gawd.  I suck.  I really need to start paying more attention to the world outside of our little family but…wait, excuse me while I stop my son from pulling at the blinds again, and my daughter from climbing on the back of the couch again…

 

However, I gave myself a little pat on the back this morning to discover that I was already following all but 3 of this week’s 20 Mommy Bloggers List from SweetSpot.ca.

 

I know. I need to get out more often.

Proof of “Never Say Never”

 

I left my small hometown of 2,000+ people when I was 18 to venture across the country for post-secondary education.  My parents “ruthlessly” sold my childhood home (How dare they?!) in the summer before I left and moved to a farm before I visited for Christmas break of first year university.  So, I packed for university and packed everything else I had for their move.  I left my hometown saying I would “never move back until I owned my childhood home again”.  Well, never say never.

 

Fast forward 16 years.  I moved back across the country, got married, have amazing almost 6 year old twins, am now getting divorced, and the kids and I have moved to the family farm; back to my hometown.  In the past 16 years, I have lived in 2 provinces and 3 metropolitan areas, and am now getting reacclimatized to small-town living. 

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that library is open every day of the week, but not the number of hours in the day as it is in a city.  I was shocked to see the sign on the front door of one of the satellite library locations has Wi-fi!  Having said that, the family farm also has Wi-fi…but I digress…

 

There’s only one Early Years Centre BUT, it has OFF-SITE playgroups at various parks in the area, with staff and one volunteer from the centre to help the parents in attendance with their kids, and set up different activities.  It also has a special needs-specific program offered every Thursday morning, which was nice to attend this week to start meeting other parents of children with special needs in the area.  Staff at the Centre are so excited because “there’s a new family in town”.  DD is even attending one of the French programs, that is run by a family friend whom I babysat for as a teenager.

 

I forgot that people here tend to get married and have children earlier than I did.  I remember some friends were surprised that I was going to university to get an education (gasp!) rather than a husband (double gasp!).  It seems that many of my childhood friends got married by 21 or 22, had their first child within a year so now that we are all in our mid- to late-30s, they have pre-teen and teenagers while I’m chasing after almost 6 year old twins.  It’s a very strange realization to find out that I’m an “older mom” here.  I talked with my best friend from highschool tonight, only to find that her son is now 12 years old – he’s still 5 in my mind; my almost 6 year olds are still babies in her mind.

 

I’m having a hard time getting used to the slower pace for everything here.  Everyone works REALLY hard (my dad has cut, turned, bailed and stored more than 100 bales of hay this week, on his own…and it’s “just” a hobby farm – my parents still run their own business full time!) but the panic and stress inherent in city life just don’t seem to be here.  People actually drive the speed limit or under (you mean it’s not just a “guideline”?) here, which feels very foreign to me.  Having said that, you can get everywhere within a 15 mins drive so really, what’s the rush?

 

In the end, I think I will have to change my original “never move back until I own my childhood home again” to:

“I WILL own my childhood home again…someday”.

Special Sunday with Daughter

DD and I went to my parents’ farm for our “Special Sunday” (where the ex and I split up the twins so we have one-on-one time with each) and had our first overnight there, just the two of us. When I suggested an overnight stay to DD, I didn’t think she would be receptive because DS wouldn’t be there with us but she was very excited about sleeping in the “pink room” (Guess what colour the walls are in that spare room?).

When we got there, Grampa and Noni were building a room and DD was right in there helping out. Soon DD was decked out in a yellow hard hat and a gardening belt to hold screws in, and was being Grampa’s helper, handing him screws whenever he needed them. She would help Noni bring in more wood as needed for construction. All around, a GREAT helper!

After about two hours of that (what kid has that kind of attention span?!), she started getting bored so she and I went for a walk along the path at the back of the farm. We were checking out all the flowers, birds and nature along the path. At one point, DD threw her hands in the air and declared “Nature is sssoooo beautiful!”.

That night, as I was putting her to bed, it dawned on me that she was literally sleeping in my childhood bed. My heart became overwhelmed. The bedding was even the same summer sheets I had growing up! Only my mother can keep sheets for 20 years and they still look new…it’s a skill, I tell you!

Before DD went to bed, she told Grampa, Noni and I that she had “to do homework for Grade 1 as soon as I wake up”. Umm…you’re in SK and it’s May, but okay. We put a pad of paper and pencil in the pink room for her and, first thing in the morning, she came into the room I was sleeping in and told me that she didn’t have a pen (one of the cats had used it as a toy overnight) so I went searching for a pen at 6am, and she spent the next half hour in the pink room, at the desk, doing her “homework”. It was full of numbers and math signs! How awesome is that?!!

There were so many moments during our trip to my parents’ where I was just amazed at how grown up my 5yo DD is, and I’m so thankful to be able to get to know her more each and every time we have a special day together.