Disappointment

Our life is so busy.  With pressures of its own, happiness and heartbreaks and disappointments. We are dealing with one of these heartbreaks around here right now and it has really thrown me for a loop.

I am a sensitive person.  And I put all my eggs in one basket when it comes to my children.  I love them fiercely, hold high expectations for them and think they are the most amazing creatures in the universe.  I'm sure that those of you who are parents can relate.  So what happens if you have a dream for your child that isn't coming true?

Audrey's gym has pulled her from their provincial stream and held her back in a group that is less designed for high level gymnastics.  They don't think she's ready. They don't think she wants it badly enough.  And maybe they are right.  But the problem is this:  I want it for her.

I know.

I swear I'm not like one of those women on Dance Moms.
I understand the logic that she is the one doing the sport.  She is the one putting in all that hard work and effort and sacrifice.  And, it's not like she's not really, really good at the sport.  Seriously people, won the overall gold medal in her last competition (along with three golds and a silver on her events). But it was time for her to step up her game this year, and she didn't.  In fact, she thought about quitting before she felt all that podium success.

Gymnastics is a tough sport.

Of course, once our gym gave us this news, I lost my shit.  They gave us the news via email, which I received while I was standing in the lobby waiting for Audrey to finish training.  An email, instead of having a personal conversation with us (after 5 years of training with them) and I didn't handle it very well.  I am quite certain that this had an additional detrimental effect on the situation.  Then we proceeded to shop her to another gym in our area.  A gym that ranks below our current gym in standings.

And this gym wants her.  Badly enough to reduce their monthly fees for us.  They want to put her in their provincial stream and they say that all she lacks is confidence.  She doesn't believe in herself.  They feel like they can give her the positive encouragement and care she needs to move forward.
At this point, I began to cry.  Like the over-invested, completely Dance Mom type parent that I have become. Mostly because it hurts my heart to hear that my beautiful, talented, smart, funny girl thinks she's less than. Confidence is crucial for girls. Not only for gymnastics but for life.

Audrey mostly wants to stay with her friends at her current gym.  But this new gym really might help her with the confidence she needs to move forward and I think she sees that side too.  I am so torn up about it that I feel like I can't make a decision and even worse, we are on a tight deadline to make said decision.

 I haven't slept and have been unable to focus on anything else for several days. Stuff like this just hits me so hard.  

Anyway, I just thought I'd level with you guys and tell you where I've been this last little bit.  I'm not feeling interested in blogging about design and DIY lately. I'm all wrapped up in my kid and this drama.  

Any excellent mothers out there who have advice for me?  How do you put disappointments like this into perspective?  I only wish I knew what to do.

xo Meg

Thankful

 

Sometimes in life, it's hard to be thankful. 

It's really easy to look at all the things in your life you wish you could change.  Life is sometimes complicated, isn't it? Sometimes things don't work out the way you planned or dreamed or hoped.  Sometimes, life hands you lemons.

 

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving.  This year, I am thankful for a whole lot.  Of course, those who are dear to me are at the top of my list.  But I'm also going to be thankful for my mistakes.  My screw-ups, challenges, and dumb moves.  There are plenty of them to be thankful for, after all.

 

Those mistakes have brought our family to the place it is today.  They've placed us on the path to creating the life we really want to live and made us into the people we are today.  Maybe it hasn't been perfect but I certainly wouldn't trade the people I share my life with for anything. 

 

I am so thankful to have them.



 Count your blessings and have the happiest of Thanksgivings!

xo Meg

Big News

   Last February, we listed our house.  I think you all know how I feel about my house.  I love it.  We didn't think we'd ever move again.
   

     If you are interested in the reasons why we were listing back in February, you can read this post.  If you'd like to see that listing, click here.  I think it's interesting because it shows the house pre-reno, and a few of you have asked about that.  Here are a couple of ugly process shots:

     If you recall, our house didn't sell after a couple of months.  The deals kept falling through. We determined the reason to be that there was simply too much work to be done on the property.  We thought we'd have better success if we completed a reno to the main floor, among other things you can read about here. Since we own a renovation company, this type of work costs us considerably less than it costs other people.

   We finished most of the work we were looking at completing with the reno, although there were a few things that still needed to be done.  We felt that the house was ready to re-list.

We listed the house on Thursday, September 20th.  We received an offer the following Wednesday and accepted it.  It's all done now, and the SOLD sign is up.

My feelings about this are extremely mixed.

We are actively looking for a new home now.  The neighbourhood we are looking at has old brick rancher homes.  With wide, beautiful properties, huge old trees and quite, rambling streets.  A completely different architecture.

We are waiting for just the right house to come up.  We have been to a few, but nothing that is just right yet.

So, for the next while, I'll be posting a little more about inspiration and a little less about reality.  We don't have very many real projects that we can be doing, although there are a couple of furniture painting projects I'll be working on.  Lots of inspiration boards coming your way!

xo Meg

Scavenging

Summer vacation officially began for my kids last week.  They are the type of kids who thrive on doing stuff - sports, hanging out with friends, going places and seeing things.  They like to be busy.

I, however, prefer to chill. But that's a whole other story.

You know the debate about over-scheduling your kids?  About how they need down time?  My kids are both very active in their sports and social lives and they don't ever seem to want down time. I worry that they are over-scheduled all the time.  However, I don't want them sitting around staring at a screen (computer, ipod, tv, etc) in their down time either.

It's week one of summer vacation and I'm already hearing the dreaded, "I'm bored, Mom!"

So when I found this fun pin on Pinterest, I thought we'd give it a try.

I basically used the same list, with a few additions.  You could do this in your own backyard but I sent my kids to the green just across the street from my house.  

Here's Audrey, showing me the stuff she found.

The prize for completing the scavenger hunt was a popsicle!

Overall, I'd say the Nature Scavenger Hunt was quite a success.  My kids really enjoyed it.  Maybe I'd put some trickier items on the list for them next time and have them pick up 5 pieces of garbage.  They did complete it much faster than I thought they would!

What are you doing to keep your kids busy and off the screens this summer?

xo Meg

Lake House

We spent the weekend at the Lake.  My favourite place on Earth.  We were...

looking for lucky stones

driving the seadoo like a boss

getting even more freckles on our perfect little noses

kayaking through the lily pads

hitting the sandbar

Needless to say, no work was done on any of our renovations this weekend.  But we were so happy to spend the holiday weekend together in the sun and sand.  (It was the Canada Day weekend here)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend too.

xo Meg

Adjustment

My kids are adjusting to having me work outside of the home.  I have always worked while they were at school or other activities.  The kind of job I had allowed me to have that flexibility.  My little one is struggling the most with not having me home.  She has a sweet, sensitive soul.

Last night when I got home from work, she had left me a little surprise on my bedside table.  She picked these from our back garden, which is beginning to show signs of spring.  And she found the little shot glass in the armoire that houses our barware and extra serving pieces.  I could just see her, climbing up on a chair to reach the tiny little 'vase'.

The little note is her version of the "A Midsummer Night's Dream" poster that I have just created for her school's production of the play.  You can't read it in this photo but she's labelled the characters: Hermia, Lysander, Oberon, etc.  There's a special note just for me on the back.

Love my girl so much.

xo Meg