I described myself on Steve Reed's blog as tired, bitchy granny on the prairies and then thought to myself, that sucks.  I looked back at my blog posts over the last three or four months and they are tired and bitchy and I don't want to be that.  I do get tired and I do get bitchy but what?  I don't want to be bitchy all the time.  I don't want to be tired all the time.  I'm happy with the granny bit though:)

Jack came back to us on Thursday and he was happy to be home.  He took all of his toys out, named each one and put them on the coffee table.  I missed his mess so much.  I also missed making things with his lego.

I'll skip over the crap and say that yesterday we took him to his swimming lesson.  He's young enough that an adult has to be with him so I put on a bathing suit and went into the pool with him.  It was so much fun.  I haven't been around little kids in the water for years and it's wonderful.  Their joy and ability to play is infectious.  

After swimming, while we were changing in the change room he quizzed me on body parts.  Not at all awkward but it was truthful.  I'm guessing Gracie will hear about pubic hair and tattoos.  Then he locked me out of the change room when I to get his socks and boots out of the locker.  Fortunately he unlocked the door quickly, but he did think it was terribly funny.

We dropped him off at his grandma's at supper time and the big guy and I went out for supper at our favorite Italian restaurant which was nice.  We don't get much time to ourselves and it was good for us.  Then I slept for ten hours straight last night. 

This morning I found a blogger who shares my sense of humor.  

We're off shortly to pick up Miss Katie for lunch and I made an appointment for her to get a haircut as well.  I balked at the price, $60, but then realized that she can well afford it.  If she has too much money in her bank account the government will cut her off.  Right now her bank account looks like she's saving up to make a down payment on a house.  She doesn't really care about things and has all that she wants so I guess a good haircut is not unreasonable.

This afternoon I'll take the dogs out for a good walk as the weather is so warm right now, although I just saw that rain is forecast again.  WTF, when did rain in Alberta winters become a normal thing?

The little guy and I took Heidi for a walk to the dog park in an effort to get all of us some exercise and fresh air.  Mission accomplished.  We found two balls and Jack and I took turns throwing them for Heidi and she chased after them.  We walked to the small hill there, through the deep snow because Jack did not want to stay on the path.  He kept getting stuck in the snow and I had to keep rescuing him.  We slid down the hill once and then started back to the car.  Nana got a lot of exercise then,  carrying him, dragging him on his back which was great fun apparently, and pointing him in the right direction over and over again.  Mission accomplished though, fresh air and exercise for all involved.

I took this photo of Heidi this morning.  I can't help myself.  I think she's so beautiful and so sweet.

At lunch time, Jack and I picked up Gracie and we drove to one of the swimming pools here.  Gracie has talked about swimming lessons for the last two years and has never done anything about it.  In December, I signed Jack up for swimming lessons and today was the first day.  Gracie didn't look like she had much fun but Jack had a great time.  Supervised visits continue.  

I may get back to swimmng.  I love swimming and miss it but I do hate putting on a swimsuit now, actually I've never really liked swimsuits.  When I was young I thought I was too thin and now I think I'm too jiggly and plump.  We're never really happy with our bodies, are we?  Fucking advertising.

I joined a literary jokes and puns group on Facebook.  They make me smile, daily.

We've had a lot of snow and cold weather but this week it warmed up and today it's raining.  You can imagine what that does to the roads.  This morning on the way into the city, there were eight cars and trucks in the ditch.  I stayed in the city to get my booster shot and then drove home; the roads much improved but still a school bus and a SUV added to the mess in the ditches.  

I took a vacation day today and now I have a four day weekend which is just lovely and seems to stretch endlessly in front of me.  I'm feeling better than I was the other day.  Writing and remembering the bad stuff that's happened over the past three years knocked me down.  

Gracie looks better than I've ever seen her.  I've only ever know Gracie pregnant or drunk or high.  She's sober and makes sense.  She's been doing a lot of work on herself  and she understands that she has a lot more work to do.  Best of all, she paid attention to Jack and it was wonderful to see.  He was happy to see her and to be seen by her, and she was happy to see him.  Gracie talked a lot and I listened.  I have hope, I always hope.  I guess only time will tell what happens.

The rest of Gracie's family comes home from Mexico on Saturday, so I guess we'll see what kind of a shit show that is.  But right now, today, Jack knows his mama loves him and she showed him that she loves him.  And how wonderful is that.

 

The sun in Edmonton moves all year long.  In the summer it rises in the northeast and in the winter it rises in the southeast.  

It's not hard to the see the sunrises in the wintertime, they're not until 9am in December.