Throwing (not a tantrum) again . . .

I have been waiting for this evening for over two years…

throwing on the wheel.

It has been a love of my life since I first discovered over 25 years ago and not from watching the movie Ghost.

I was in high school and the art teacher offered a pottery class. "Sure," I thought, "I will try that since the drama class my stepmom signed me up for involves drama on the stage and never at home."

Pottery was great for me. I found my centre and also my passion. At university I found it again after a traumatic breakup with a boyfriend…again, I found my centre in a time of uncertainty.

After university I lost the time and the drive to pursue my passion.  Then came a move across the ocean and later kids and the list goes on as to why I did not throw on the wheel.

When we moved to Canada a new friend mentioned she was starting a pottery class and asked if I wanted to join. "Ah ha, that is perfect timing and the stars are aligning for me to follow my passion again," I thought. And again I pursued it. Then came another move and again I put my passion aside.

Christmas 2013 reignited in me a desire to pursue my  love again . . .

and so it begins again!

The Itch is back . . .

It has been a year since we last stepped foot in Germany.  Admittedly, as of late, I was very content (the word best describing my feelings about living in Canada) with my life but with our three year anniversary coming up I began to feel that itch.

What itch? The itch I get when I have been somewhere too long. Every few months or years, dependant upon the circumstances in my life, the itch comes back. This time we have been in Canada for three years, life is rocking and rolling along with our two children, golden retriever Maizy, four hermit crabs, one minivan and a suburban lifestyle like most others.  And I love it. And I don't. And then again I love it...and on and on. And so the itch is back.

On Facebook I see what my friends are doing living the life in Germany and Switzerland.  I am brought back to when I used to live there. But the difference is that, with time, my memories of living there become fuzzy so I dream about moving back (which is a real possibility) and embracing the expat-life again.  So I travel back to Stuttgart in the summer for a couple of weeks to have the kids reconnect with their birthplace, family, language and most importantly friends.  For the same reason I also I reconnect with my friends but, more importantly, I reconnect with the Schwabians.

Having landed 36 hours ago, today I had the joy of experiencing customer ¨service¨ at the local Lidl, a jolly old man who lectured me on teaching children how to open car door without hitting other cars, and Sassy von Sass at the Subway with her 80's hot pink acrylic claws and ponytail in my sandwich. This was all within the first day of our vacation!  Ah Schwabenlaendle, how I have missed you!  And thank you, my itch has now subsided.

Bon Jour, Paris!

Somewhere along the line of moving homes a little idea got lost...that of a family vacation.  I am not sure how it happened, or why, but my guess is that the insane travel schedule of my hubby (yeah, 3.5 weeks out of 4 this month) as well as the 50+ boxes that are still in the basement yet to be unpacked are to blame.

The idea of the family holiday was recaptured last week, however, and as most things in our lives everything went licketty-split and suddenly we will be in Paris together for a week!  Sure, I am using the excuse that our daughter needs to brush up on her French as the real reason why we will go there.  Never mind the reason but this is going to be fuuuuun!

A week in Paris and far, far, far away from my husband's work.  No pressure on but I think we will all fall in love with one another again.

Luckily for us, a good friend was recently in Paris with her family for one week and after a quick phone call this morning, the Rick Steves guidebooks are in my hands and already under full scrutiny.  And even better, and to keep my sanity, we have decided to stay in Paris at the same apartment we rented 6 years ago. Less thought, more fun!

I will keep you posted on our adventures.

I just don't have time to do housework . . .

I just have too much to do. Seriously, I am a housewife with an addiction to Facebook and now, lord help me, Pinterest. Pinterest? Yes ma'am.

Along with my penchant for fabulous little notecards and stationary that I love to collect (but rarely use) and lovely bottles of Hawaiian Salts, Pinterest now allows me to focus on everything and nothing at the same time. What a gift!

Having our new little puppy, Miss Maizy, gives me the excuse I need to keep the house not as spotless as it should be.  I like to use the puppy and my training Miss M as a reason for the dishes not being taken out of the dishwasher as soon as the drying cycle is done.  Vacuuming every little bit of dust also is passed on in favor of some snuggles with my princess.  But now, all bets are off. Perhaps even my precious little pup will become a monster with my pinning . . . 

I will keep you posted.

 Or pinned.

Yeah, I am a new mom . . .

Much has changed since I last checked in.  In addition to our two fabulous cats Xenia and Daisy we recently added two Guppies (Bluey and Rainbow) to our family.  And since we were able to juggle that insanity even while travelling, the family decided to get a dog.  It has been a long process finding the one that was right for our family.  There were so many questions:

What size dog shall we get? Well, the kids wanted a small one, presumably for the cute factor and the dress up potential of said dog. Thomas was more keen on a larger dog. A Rottweiler was his first choice but that was very quickly taken care of.  We will not ever be getting a Rottweiler and I do not care what great family dogs they are.  So once we settled on something in between, it was time to decide on a breed.

So what mid-sized breed should we have?  As I hate to clean, the idea at first was to look for something non-shedding. A poodle came to mind but only once in my life did I find a poodle I liked. Every other poodle, especially white ones, give me the heebeejeebees. Honestly.  So with poodles out, the Portuguese Water Dog was on my radar, especially since dear Barack Obama has one. I visited a lovely breeder and spoke to two vets techs and decided that our family needs a dog with energy but not that much energy.  I have a four year old and a seven year old with plenty of energy so thanks but no thanks for that Portuguese Water Dog.

And then it came down to a dog that I have always loved and is loved by many - the Golden Retriever.  I joke about it but there is some truth to it. We live in suburbia, the kids play soccer, I drive a mini-van and walk around too often in my lululemon . . . what dog does one get?  Of course a Golden!

And finally came the question of . . . girl or boy and since I can choose we are getting a little girl.  Three breeders later we found our princess and will be bringing her home in one week.

As a family we are excited, very excited, to be settling down enough to get a dog. The kids are more than old enough and, to be frank, I am too (settled and old enough - FINALLY)!

Maple Syrup Festival - a great way to start March Break's staycation

It has been a long winter and every day we are waiting for signs of Spring.  The kids can not wait to see green leaves on the trees again rather than barren branches.   Rather than make our way down south as so many of our friends have done, we decided to stay local for this March Break.  For our first trip of the ¨staycation¨ we decided to enjoy the great outdoors again be heading to the  Maple Syrup Festival held in Bronte Creek Provincial Park about 15 minutes from our home in Oakville, Ontario.  I had been looking forward to seeing the Maple Syrup Festival since before we moved here six months ago.  And now, with Spring approaching it was here . . .

Welcome to the Festival

The weather predicted rain but we were spared the rain and enjoyed a chilly day outside learning about how real maple syrup is made as well as the history of maple syrup for the settlers in the area and as well as the First Nations people.

Explaining how a tree is tapped

A tree stump is used to show how it would be tapped - were it not a stump.

With a small group of other visitors we went from station to station and saw the various steps taken to retrieve the syrup from the tree, make it into syrup and the final products.

The various tools that had been used to tap a tree and boil the maple syrup.

Next time there will be more photos if the kids eating freshly made maple syrup taffy and maple syrup maple leaf shaped crystallized maple syrup.   To the right you see how the maple leaf blocks are made.  This was probably my favorite treat.

Thanks for not drinking and driving - now here's your parting gift!

Wednesday night, 7pm, I am on my way to a school council meeting in my ¨mami-van¨.  It is dark and all of the lights on the houses are lit for the holiday season, even the ones on the police cars.  Whoa . . . police cars? Will this be the second time in the past week that I am stopped at a police check for drinking and driving?  Apparently yes.

This past weekend my husband and I were returning from a cool Christmas party in downtown Toronto complete with magicians, dancing and an Asian/Canadian Flamenco dancer.  I really love Toronto for all of its multiculturalism.  But what I really love Toronto for is the friendliness of its people.  At midnight as we were driving towards the highway traffic came to a near standstill. Lucky for us, we were in the warmth of the car unlike the police officers, those guilty of the back log in traffic.  It was a DUI control in the middle of the night in sub-zero temps with a nasty wind chill.  

As we rolled up slowly to DUI officer no. 4 in the line we rolled down our window.  Panicked only because police officers make me nervous (I am sure I did something wrong at all times of the day in my life), a smiling face came through the window.  ¨Hi, how are you two thing evening?¨ she asked my husband and me.  ¨Good,¨ answered my husband while I asked if I could have a Grande skinny Chai Latte with half sugar . . . and she laughed.  After a few more niceties and a small thank you on our part, we were on our way home and my first DUI check in Canada was, well, really nice and enjoyable. 

As my husband and I drive away, we were still in shock as to how friendly the police officer was and we even laughed to imagine how the entire scenario would have played out in Switzerland or Germany.  I am quite certain that there would have been no smiling or laughing on the part of the DUI officer had we been in Germany!

But then this evening, something even stranger happened. As I mentioned, I was on my way to a council meeting at my daughter's school. Just outside of my house there was a roadblock again set up to catch drunk drivers.  Again I was nervous and fumbled to lower my driver's side window.  Nervousness really can be a hindrance.  The officer was nice and asked me the usual questions like ¨Have you had a drink tonight?¨ to which I answered a resounding ¨No, its only 7pm (insert cute smile here). It's a bit early, right?¨ To which the  officer said ¨It is the holidays,¨ and  then he followed up with, ¨Thank you, and now you can get your coupon ahead.¨ What? What, what?  Well, I proceeded forward to get my coupon (I still was not understanding really what he said) and I received, in fact, a coupon!  Granted, it is for a BigMac at McDonalds but I got a coupon for not drinking and driving!  I told the officer and one of the MADD reps that this is one of the reasons that I love Canada (and those who know me know that I said this) and they all smiled.  

But seriously, this was the most interesting thing that occurred to me in quite some time.  And it solidified my feelings of living here in Canada.  I love it here.  I am constantly in shock how friendly people are, even those in positions of power. 

This Christmas has been a bit tough for me, honestly, after 10 years of enjoying the holidays in Germany with its Christmas Markets but little experiences like this, I can live without my gluhwein and bretzel. I really can.

Frohe Weihnachten, y'all!