Drifting

I can NOT believe the drifts of snow here. I have no idea how much snow we got over the last 2-ish days... in some places we can see the grass, in other places, the drifts are about 7 feet tall. I went outside this morning to do some recon... I knew Little Fox would want to go out and play, but I wasn't sure if he'd fall through a spot that was over his head or what.

Red Fox wanted to do for a drive... and I said that we'd come too, just for fun. So off we went. Here's the thing. In PEI, the wind always seems to blow across the road. no matter WHAT road, or what direction you're going, the snow always seems to blow straight across the road. When there's this much snow, that means there are huge snow drifts across the roads. Our road and the River Road weren't plowed. Since everything around it white, it's REALLY hard to judge how high the drifts are. We hit the first big one with a WHOOMPH. There were a few that made me think we were being recklessly crazy, but for the most part, it was a fun drive. Then when we got back, we almost got stuck in the driveway.

After lunch, Little Fox and I went out to play (Molly too, of course). The big snow drift at the end of the driveway is about 10 feet wide from the fence to the front, and probably reaches at least 7 feet high at the back. We had a great time! Red Fox came outside too, and we all wandered around Foxfield, throwing snow for Molly and digging holes/tunnels through the drifts.

Now, the snow is all pink because of the red PEI dust blowing around.

Interprovincial Renovators

It's been about a week since I last posted. We've been at our NS house fixing it up a bit in hopes that it will sell.

We had a lot to do, but had a lot of help from a lot of people: my dad, my mom, my stepfather, Red Fox's mom, A and L-A and J. Paint, flooring, tile, drywall, plumbing, cleaning moving furniture, taking down wall hangings, etc. We are so grateful for the help. I felt humbled, exposed and a little embarrassed that we needed the help, but I am so thankful that there are people who will help us.

Red Fox and I were at it for a full week, but still didn't get everything finished. The "highlight" of it all for me was when Red Fox dropped his drill bit down the hole for the toilet... his hand was too big to reach it... so... I couldn't find any rubber gloves, so I improvised with a garbage bag. Gag. My mom and stepfather went to the house yesterday to do some finishing touches, staging and to work on the drywall. There's a showing today, so fingers crossed, everyone!

 Red Fox and my dad, checking out the status of the furnace

 And this is when my headache started...

 A and LA fixing up the upstairs bathroom.

 My mom

J had the hardest job of us all... entertaining Little Fox for the day! Thanks J! 

 Split hoses finally fixed. 

Me, grouting the new tile in the downstairs bathroom. 

We brought quite a bit of stuff back to PEI with us. We went over with one suitcase of clothes... and came back with 4 garbage bags full. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?

We're back at Foxfield now. I'm back at my home office, Little Fox is playing cars next to me, and Red Fox is getting ready to go see his potential boss (yay!!!!).

It's a beautiful, but cold, sunnny day. The calm before the storm? We're expecting 20 cms or more of snow tomorrow.

BIG NEWS! Red Fox is now officially employed! Thank God! We went to McDonalds to celebrate (Little Fox's choice), and as soon as Little Fox is in bed, I'm pouring the wine.

Still no word from our realtor about today's showing, so I guess there wasn't an offer... come one people, make all that work worth it!

Ice and basketball

I haven't posted in a few days.

The last few days have been rough, to say the least. Our realtor called with the news. At our NS house, we ran out of oil. No heat, and the temperature outside was the coldest it's been all winter. Frozen pipes, frozen pump, frozen everything.

We are also very low on funds. Thanks to family and friends, we're going to get this fixed and keep ourselves fed.

Red Fox went over to the NS house to investigate the damage. My step-father also went to help, and to monitor the electric heaters. The plumber went in yesterday, and is going back in today to try to get things up and running again. I really hope there isn't much damage, but my step-father reports that there is nothing leaking yet.

My dad is going today and will be spending the night. We're heading over tomorrow after work.

There have been a few bright spots throughout this mess though.

The day Red Fox went to NS, Little Fox and I stayed here and had a mommy-son day. We played lego, watched Gnomeo and Juliet and played his video game. We read most of the books we got from the library and coloured a picture to mail to Little Fox's friend in NS.

Also, yesterday was our niece's 13 birthday, and she had a basketball game not far from our house. So we went to watch. Her team lost, but they did a great job holding their own against a team that is bigger and more experienced than they are. They were even in the lead for a bit, and it wasn't until the last few minutes that the other team got any kind of real lead. Anyway, Little Fox had some fun playing basketball with J, and playing angry birds with S. It was a really nice outing for us, actually.. a nice way to get our minds off of frozen pipes and to actually cheer for something!

Tomorrow Red Fox has 2 job interviews. Fingers crossed for those.

After that, we're heading to the NS house to deal with that, and to do some painting to get that sucker sold.

Tour

I heard through the grapevine that Grampy Kim and a few others are reading my blog. (Yay!). I know most people haven't seen our "new" house, so I thought I'd do a video tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udb0OUiTLnE&feature=youtu.be

Everything is a bit of a mess, for a few reasons.
1. Most of the stuff in the house isn't ours, and we're only using it til we got our own stuff moved from NS. Most of it is old, crappy, or ugly and will be removed asap.
2. We have too much stuff and not enough places to put it all.Our shelves and such are still in NS.
3. I'm lazy.
4. Our washer is frozen, so the laundry is piling up.

The house has great potential. I can't wait to get it back to it's original beauty.

Books

I finally thought of something to do with Little Fox that is close to home and free. The Library! He loves to be read to, and is really coming along with sounding out words himself.

We went to the K-Town library  and got some library cards. Little Fox has his very own card, and we brought his little wallet to put it in. After that, we headed over to the kids' section, and Little Fox immediately sat at the computer.

They had all these great games for kids to play that help with reading. He sat there for about 80% of the time we were there. I browsed the kids books, and chose a few that were "level 1" books that I knew would have words that he could read. I also got a few "educational" books for him. He's been asking about planets/space, and about bones lately, so I got a space book and a book about the body... skeleton, muscles, blood circulation, etc. We also got "Gnomeo and Juliet" so we can have a movie night tomorrow.

While I looked for a few books for me Little Fox "read" a book of his own.

The library had a pretty good kids section, but not a great selection for me. But I have trouble choosing books by the cover and on a whim. I like going in with a list of books on my "to read" list and hoping a few will be there. I picked 2, and then found a third that was on a display at the front.

In other news... the laundry is piling up, and there are a whole lot of frozen pipes in our lives right now.

Quotes

Just a few things that Little Fox has said or done lately that I want to remember

"You're the best, Mom. I can always count on you!"

Today, we played cars, and we were moving his cars through his car wash. I was poking the cars through the door and Little Fox said "You're a great poker, mommy!"

"Mommy, why do I have big ears?"
"You mean, why do they stick off? Everyone's ears stick off"
"Yeah, but, when  I look in the mirror, they are kinda scary."

"You had better see that, Mommy!"

"You're doing pretty much good, Mommy"

While eating supper, Little Fox made a loud noise which made Molly bark and run to the door. Little Fox started laughing, and while shaking his head he said "Stupid Dog".

We went to a gym meet today, and I was discussing the beam routines with one of the coaches. On the way home, Red Fox asked Little Fox if he liked it, and Little Fox said "Yeah. There was a lot of bum shaking".

At supper tonight, Little Fox said "You're the rules, mom!"

When playing cars or the racing video games, when his cars get smashed he said "My car is JAMMED!"

Someone taught him the high five, down low, too slow thing. It cracks him up when you're too slow!

Laugh, or I'll cry

Yesterday after work, I poured myself a glass of wine and put in a load of laundry. I had just settled in front of the fire with my word find book, when I heard splashing. I jumped up, and there was a geyser coming out of the drain pipe behind the washer. I hit cancel on the washer, and it stopped, but by that time, the water was flooding the hallway. I yelled for Red Fox, and he came out and helped me clean it up.

While Red Fox was mopping, I supplemented my glass of wine with some tylenol...

And then... I heard splashing again. This time, accompanied by some pretty words from Red Fox. He had just finished mopping up the water, and was trying to turn the washer off... only, he turned it back ON, and the hallway was flooded again.

We both should have known that the pipes would have been frozen. After all, it's a million below zero out there... so now, I have a washer full of sopping wet soapy clothes. But at least the hallway floor is clean....