We have started work on our routine for Cheer and I love it. I am featured at the front!

He said

With Mom & Dad settled into their assisted living apartment and in their quarantine lockdown, it meant a little less running around in every spare moment. Sure, we will still over there a few times to sort through the remaining stuff leftover to sort and divide it up between the families, but there was a lot less of that and a lot more tending to our regular, every-day. Emelia was folding into her school and cheer practice two times a week. Danielle was acclimating to her part-time hours at Montessori and really hoping it turns into more full time hours. And I, well I was still Apple-Storing in a COVID world. This was the first week in some time where the schedule did feel a little more normal.

But what is normal, though?

Thursday, we got a message from Mom that Dad was headed via ambulance from their place to University Hospital as Dad was having problems with delayed speech as well as getting around. In fact, he was showing some signs of confusion and it took three nurses to get him in a wheelchair. So, off he was back to the hospital. He was immediately admitted and they kept care of him. Friday we found out his irritation around his eye that had started earlier in the week was indeed shingles and likely they felt a lot of the reason for the problems he was having. They got him on antibiotics and were going to keep him until the shingles was gone. They were also going to keep tabs on his leg healing as well. So, it’s another hospital stay for Dad unfortunately. Fortunately he is in good hands.

With Dad in the hospital and Mom well cared for, we were off to the trailer for the weekend. Danielle & Emelia headed up earlier in the day Friday after their week’s ended. The second we had store closed, I made home grabbed some things and was off to the trailer like a shot from a gun. By 10:05pm I was having a burger and a beer by the fire noting how happy I was we found this refuge this summer. We weren’t sure at the start of the summer if a seasonal site was for us, but after such an amazing summer and so much time using the trailer than we normally do, we couldn’t be happier! In reality we would have not camped until July and even then it likely wouldn’t have been like we had experienced with so many of the parks being limited in what you can do in a COVID world. Plus, we would have been taking so much more risk in coming in contact with the virus. We are so thankful this option!

In fact so thankful that we have decided to do this again next summer alongside the Sherwood’s! This weekend, we both put our deposits down to hold our sites for next summer! There has been so much more time spent around the fire pit and in our trailer this year—more than any other! We know whether we end up back in some form of quarantine, or even completely out of the pandemic, that we will get our fair share of enjoyment spending every second we can escaping to the trailer. It doesn’t hurt that Goderich to Guelph Rail Trail is just down the road and I have spent a good deal of my summer on that path burning extraneous calories. And then there is always Cowbell Brewing to stop at for a cold pint on the ride too!

And speaking of bike riding and exercise… This week I closed in on a very important milestone. One of the things any time I have started or restarted some form of fitness routine, the goal in the back of my head that I never vocalized that I thought would be nice is getting my weight below 200lbs. I don’t think in my entire adult life I have been there. But in the last couple of weeks I have gotten very close. Last Sunday I hit 201.6lbs And tonight I stepped on the scale at 201lbs even. I am very close to hitting that goal I thought I’d never hit and it feels pretty damned great. I mean it took a lot of work getting there—namely at least 16 kms on the bike every single day since July 18, but it’s also been fun work as I really do love riding the bike!

She said

I would love to start one post that we are not dealing with a ton of stress but with the way our lives have been going lately I don’t think stress-free will be in our near future. The big projects again are holding on to our lives right now. We are still working together as family to clear 30 years of life out of Helen and Doug’s house to hopefully get it on the market in less than a month. I was over there a few times this week clearing more things out with John’s brothers and our sister-in-law. It has been a full family effort. Everyone is getting tired but we are all in great spirits and are trying to find a lot of laughs in a home that has been the centre of our family life for 30 years. We all want this over but admittedly it will be sad the day we aren’t able to get under one roof together.

This week along with clearing more things out of the house I was able to get the start on the much needed things we need to get done once we can finally clear the house of the contents. We need three big things post clean out: painting, steam cleaning and a deep clean. I was able to secure these services this week and thankfully with some luck we will be able to get the painting hopefully started next week. This has really put the crunch on to clear things out.

This weekend once John and I were back in town from the trailer I made my way over to the house while John headed to work. The house was full, masked and clearing things out. David and two of his kids were able to come down so they could take things away and we managed to fill two more vehicles with more for donation. It has been a full time job for sure. The fun we have been having is going through all the family memorabilia. Helen kept so many pieces of their childhood, we have found so many amazing little treasures. Even though all the work we were all laughing at all the stuff squired away in the house.

Next week will be equally busy—balancing school, work, the house and life in general but we know this is for the greater good, to get the house sold and to give closure for Helen & Doug. We will miss that house because of all the memories it holds but we know as a close family we will find new ways to have family memories. Hoping next week we can also get in to Helen and Doug’s apartment to hopefully get the boxes unpacked and get them settled. Like I said we have a lot on our plate these days.