Changes

So many changes, so little time! It feels like 2011 has been just flying by so far.

The mandatory schedule changes I am suffering this year are not fun to get used to. Mr. A's work schedule changed in January necessitating my house-wife-y duties to resume before 7am. Not popular. Especially with the 'Spring Forward' time change. Other of my house-wife-y duties have had to be rescheduled as well since Time-of-Use hydro pricing has come into play in our city. Laundry and baking are now usually saved for the weekend.

My efforts to focus my energy this year are challenging - but it's a good challenge. I'm planning and organizing more efficiently as I focus on my list of priorities (really, I had to make a sticky note to remind myself). As a result, I find myself a little more accepting of what I do - or don't - accomplish throughout the day. I raise my voice less even when frustrated and stressed. Cool side effect.

Mr. A, The Boy Child, Miss K and I have been seeing our share of family changes as well. Mr. A's daughter, Miss B, has been able to spend some time with us. This new, very welcomed and long awaited change began last summer. We've moved through the novelty and excitement of a new arrangement into a more real eyes-wide-open time of learning about new family dynamics.

With the physical size of people changing around here it's become very apparent that if the size of the house can't change, then the layout and organization must. Adding one pre-teen girl to my collection of newly teen girl and pre-teen boy makes the relative size of one's sofa very small. In fact, it made the entire seating/lounging/sprawling situation very difficult. So Mr. A and I have been doing our very best to make changes to make things a little more comfortable.

Today we added new furniture. In preparation, we moved old furniture to a new rec room type space in our partly finished basement. Adding furniture gave me the perfect opportunity to rearrange our entire main floor. This is our main living area and I haven't been able to rearrange it for many, many, many years. The biggest change was removing the entertainment unit which paved the way for a nicely flowing open concept living area. I love it.

Surprisingly, the kidlets have entered the ranks of the working class. My brother-in-law has gathered them up on occasion and taken them to work at his marina. The arrangement has been working out very nicely and plans are to have regular workdays throughout the summer. Being a business man, my brother-in-law gave instruction on negotiating a wage the very first day the kids were there. He wrote them up a paycheque at the end of the day, much to their delight.

Miss K has been asked to provide her services to my sister, a new mom, as a mother's helper. Homeschooling has never been so flexible! We easily find a couple of hours once day a week for Miss K to watch my new nephew.

On the horizon are exciting things: our first foray into competitive sports for The Boy Child; a regular volunteer position for Miss K and I at the local therapeutic riding program; homeschooling highschool. Among the exciting upcoming things are everyday efforts: returning to running - this time with Miss K joining in; a surprise visit States-side to my mother-in-law's for Mother's Day; a new sesame allergy (added to Miss K's peanut allergy). And so life goes on.

♥Mrs. A.