Neodad

Well good morning! Another day in paradise.

Mommy’s days off are over and it’s just dad and the boys now for five days, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. I’m not a big fan of the 8-6 shift. Mommy misses all three meals with the boys, which I know she doesn’t enjoy. And daddy gets all three meals alone with the boys, from prep to feeding to clean-up. And that’s on top of the laundry and trying to find on-line writing jobs. (No, I don’t pursue my million-dollar poker dream during the day.)

But enough whining. It’s laundry day! This has been an ongoing challenge for me, but I think I’ve licked it today. Sontoo, the younger, has developed an annoying habit of leg-clinging. It’s not easy to clean the table, do the dishes, do the laundry, with 32 pounds of extra weight on one leg.

So I ask myself, why is he doing this? Attention I guess. He needs more. (As does Sonwun, the elder). So today, while folding laundry on the kitchen table, I set the little sucker in his highchair with a handful of Megabloks, a bottle of milk and a few cheerios. Voila! He was up high enough to feel he had my attention, distracted enough to continue that illusion and fed enough to ward of hunger pangs.

Yeah, I know, you mom’s out there are saying “duhhhh.”

Fair enough. But hey, I’m still relatively new at this. I’m getting some things accomplished this morning and I’m feeling good about it. We’ve got some Cars, some Queen, a little Billy Joel and Great Big Sea playing in the kitchen, Sontoo is happy, Sonwun is dancing and the laundry’s getting folded. It’s a good day.

Oh and before I forget, a quick kid story. Last night I was playing a little educational flashcard game with Sonwun, the elder. The card had a picture of a shoe on it. The laces were missing. I was supposed to ask, “What is missing.”

So I did. Sonwun’s response: “The other shoe.”

I laughed and asked again, “You’re right, but what else is missing?”

Sonwun: “A foot.”

I didn’t go on. He didn’t get the one they were looking for, but he did get two very correct answers. I’m proud that, already, he’s thinking outside the box.

As I said, it’s a good day.

Having to take a hard look at our family financial picture, the wife and I have come to the same inescapable conclusion. We can not afford to smoke any longer.

Now, before you all go getting preachy and annoying, let me state a few things:

1. We KNOW we could never afford to smoke. No one can.

2. Smoking bad, yeah, got it.

3. We have NOT smoked in the house since two years before our children were born.

4. Yeah, smoking bad, got it.

5. We know it’s a good thing to quit.

6. We know it will save us money.

7. We know quitting is the healthy thing to do.

I think I covered most of what we know. In any case, April 1 is the big quitting day and no, this is not an April Fool’s prank. We are quitting.

The wife is looking into the laser therapy thing. Yes, my eyes are rolling . . . but whatever works. I just can’t buy into something that works by, and I quote: “applying a low level or cold laser to your body’s natural energy flow points to stimulate the release of endorphins into the body.”

I roll my eyes, but I know that no matter which crutch you choose, it’s all about your will and desire to quit. And we both have that in spades right now. 

I plan to either go it cold turkey (was successful for 6 months using this once before) and, if it gets ugly, I’ll go with those fake cigarette things that do the same job as the nicotine gum or patch. But you get the joy of holding a cigarette-like thingy and sucking on it when necessary.

I have also checked the Health Canada quit smoking website and it offered a few tips as well. For example, it’s apparently good to write down your plan and reasons for quitting. It’s also a good idea to share the plan with friends, family and strangers on the Internet (okay, made that last one up). So this blog entry will kill two birds with one stone.

The HC website also promises that I will breathe easier within 8 days, food will taste better soon thereafter and so on and so forth. I look forward to all of these things, as well as the chance to keep up with the always active Sonwun and Sontoo. And I guess that’s really what it’s all about. I want and need to be an active participant in their lives.

So that’s the plan. The countdown is on and I begin today by cutting down on the number of cigarettes I have per day. Twelve days and I quit.

Well, Sonwun has just crawled out of bed so my day begins. It’s 6:11 a.m. Game on.

Well, we have some solid deadlines to work with now. The move to Thompson will take place in the Fall. 

Got word last week and the wife will head to Ottawa in August for the 40-day training program, after which we will head north for the three-year apprenticeship program in Thompson.

It’s nice to have dates. It makes it so much easier to plan the sale of the house, the minor renovations for sale, the house-hunting trip and so on. 

I gotta tell you, I was in a bit of a panic mode last week. The powers that be were trying to get the wife into Ottawa for the April 20 course. That would have meant a three-week assessment in Winnipeg for the wife, starting almost immediately, followed almost immediately again by the trip to Ottawa. And that, my friends, would have left me with the two kids and a house to spruce up and sell, as well as a trip to Thompson to buy another. Lots of work and stress for a 10-week period.

So now, at least, we can take a little time to digest the change and make it happen. And while that seems like good news, the downside is that we must now make the move to Thompson at the beginning of winter. It’s a little more treacherous on the driving front and a little less pleasant setting up house. 

In any case, today I will head to Winnipeg to begin the process of severing the house and 20 acres from the rest of my property. The real estate agent told me I will get more for the properties separately than as a single unit. So that’s the plan. It’s also Playgroup day, and I will just have to miss that. The wife has a day off and she will take Sonwun and Sontoo while I do the running around. Good deal.

In the next few weeks, the wife and I will pick one of about a dozen little projects we have to do, each time she has a few days off. That should put the house in proper order in time for sale. I think I’ve said it before, but there’s much to do and, even with the reprieve, not much time to do it. 

Have a great day!

Well word has come down from on high. We will be moving.

It’s part of the joy that comes with being an RCMP family. You can expect to make more than the average number of address changes in your lifetime. It’s part of the adventure you signed up for. 

But they say one of the bigger stresses in life is moving and having moved more than once already, I agree. Throw two kids under 4 into the mix . . .

So the word from on high is that we will be moving to the rollicking town of Thompson, Manitoba. For those of you unfamiliar, it’s about 750 kilometres north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It’s the “Hub of the North,” it’s isolated and it’s cold. Yeehaw! But they say the fishing’s great - during the month or two that the lakes aren’t frozen.

Today, I am feeling stressed. This house must sell for a reasonable price, I must find a new house in Thompson and we must move there. I have already checked out the housing prices and they are surprisingly high up there. One thousand square feet goes for between $200,000 and $300,000. Say it with me . . . Yeehaw!

So, gentle readers, that is what this blog will be about for the next little while. The trials and tribulations associated with moving to Canada’s Siberia.

Today, the real estate lady came by to look over the house we now occupy. She believes we will maximize our profit by severing the house from the 120 acres property and selling each separately. Good news, I guess, but the severance process takes about 4 months. We will likely be moving in about 3 and a half months. A little something extra to clog the cogs of a smooth move.

The reason for the move, by the way, is that the wife has been accepted for training in the forensic identification program. That is the good news. That’s the reason she joined, the reason she went to university. I am glad for her. But the wrinkle in this one is that while she is away in Ottawa training (7 weeks) I will have to sell this house and travel to Thompson, Sonwun and Sontoo strapped in the minivan, and buy another house. All together . . . Yeehaw!

Anyway, stay tuned. Things are going to get a lot more interesting in the months to come. I mean, where else can you (and why would you) read about someone moving to Thompson, Manitoba. Living the dream . . . living the dream.