Being The Wife of a Volunteer Firefighter Isn't Always Fun, But I Can't Help But Be Proud

My husband has been a volunteer firefighter for longer than I have known him.  It was always a part of our relationship. but I think it became more challenging after we had kids.  Things became less predictable at that point, and throw a firecall in the middle of that unpredictability and it can be sheer chaos.  I want to clarify what a volunteer firefighter is.  They do get paid, but only when they are out at a call. They are on call pretty much anytime they are home or in the area.  They wear pagers that notify them of the emergencies that they must respond to.  They must live in the community of the fire hall that they work out of.

Basically, that means that volunteer firefighters' free time is only free until they get a fire call.  Also, because they live in the area that they serve, many of them know the victims of the fire, the casualties of that car accident and the patient of the medical call.  In fact, my husband has responded to calls for his family members, when his grandmother passed away and when his brother was in a car accident.  They run into buildings when everyone else is running out, they console families and family members. 

They run out on holiday dinners, hockey practices, school plays. They miss bedtimes and stories. They have even had to leave their own Christmas party to respond to calls.  They've left dinner as soon as it's served and eaten reheated meals more times than you can count.  But they do it because they love it.  They do it because they care.  They do it because they want to make a difference.

They acknowledge their successes, they mourn their losses.  They are thanked, they are yelled at, they are loved, they are hated.  They accept that in these situations, they cannot save everything and everyone, but they fight to win.  They accept people's kind words and the words filled with anger and they continue to fight.

The fire department is a second family to us.  They are truly brothers.  When one bleeds, they seem to all feel the pain.  I may complain from time to time about changed plans, late dinners, sad kids who miss their dad, but I wouldn't ask to change it.  I am proud to say that my husband is a volunteer firefighter.  I am proud to see his selflessness and concern for our community.  I am just proud of him.

I Didn't Know Everything About His Past, But I Know That He Influenced My Future

There have been many people in my life that have influenced the person I am and the way I want to raise my children.  Most of those people are members of my family.  I am extremely grateful for the family that I was born into.  My parents have always been important to me, but if you take it one step further back, my grandparents raised a great family.  My grandmother (June) passed away when I was 18.  I can still remember the way her laugh sounded.  I think that may in part be because I hear a little of it when my mom and her 2 sisters laugh.  She was a remarkable lady.  The person who I want to write about today though is her husband, my grandfather, Stan Hoar. 

As I said in the title, I don't know everything about his history.  I know he lived on a farm, he worked at a psychiatric hospital for many years and that he and my grandmother raised 7 children together.  I can only hope that my husband and I still look at each other and act around each other the way that they did after all the years they were married.  He and my grandmother moved off the farm several years after he retired.  Once my grandmother passed, he moved to a retirement residence.  He remained active in his retirement, volunteering at the psychiatric hospital where he had worked and as a driver for community care (taking people to there medical appointments), playing cards, going to dances and anything else that he was invited to do.

He was always a healthy man, so when he developed a lump on his neck , it was a surprise to learn that it was an aggresive form of cancer.  There was a point during his battle with cancer that he was given a few months to live.  By that timeline, it was unsure if he would be around to see my daughter born.  As you can see by my picture, he did get to meet her.  Not only that, but he saw her first birthday and her second birthday.  He actually had almost 3 good years before he passed away.  And by good, I mean that he was still able to enjoy life and do the things he enjoyed doing for a large portion of those 3 years. 

This may seem like a sad story and I guess in a way it is. My family misses him, and my kids, despite how young they were when he died still mention him from time to time, as do my husband and I.  He is lovingly referred to as Poppa Stan in our house (a name my son started).  But this story is about more than sadness, it's about a legacy that was left behind.  My mother and her brothers and sisters (keep in mind there are 7 of them)  still get together on a few occasions through the year and manage to keep in touch much more regularly than that.  I have never heard a disagreement between them.  Their children (my cousins) and my siblings and I also keep in touch (thanks to the internet and social networking) and our children play together at family get togethers. We are lucky and blessed.

Thanks Poppa Stan and Grandma June! 

Friendship Takes Time....Even If You're a Dog (The Story of Tucker and Mini)

So this picture shows what I hoped would happen when we got our second dog, but I had started to give up hope that it would ever really happen.

I saw the dogs lying like this, and quickly ran to get my camera before they moved. I think this will always be my favourite picture of the two of them.

The story of how we got to these two dogs snuggling starts in May of 2009.  That was when my kids and husband finally got me to give in and agree to get a dog.  I was always the hold out.  We like to travel and it isn't always possible to bring a pet with you and it can be challenging to find someone who will take in a dog for a week.  It was around this time that an acquaintence of ours started a doggie daycare and boarding facility.  My excuses were no longer valid.  My husband, Todd, immediately began searching for a dog.  We didn't know where to begin.  We wanted a small dog, preferably trained already (we had no experience in this area).  A search on Kijiji lead us in the direction of Tucker a shih tzu poodle cross.

When we spoke to Tucker's owner, she informed us that she had started to breed dogs, but that after having 2 litters, she no longer wanted to continue.  She was getting rid of 8 month old Tucker, a litter of puppies, and the mother of both litters.  We made arrangements to come to meet her and the dogs.    When we arrived, we realized that she lived in tiny apartment and she didn't stop smoking the entire time that we were there.  We walked in and sat down.  The mother growled at us the entire time we were there.  Tucker jumped up in our laps, was friendly to the kids and was downright loveable.  He was covered in matted fur and was dirty.  We excused ourselves for a moment, and talked briefly.  Both my husband and I felt the same way.  We wanted to bring Tucker home and we didn't want to wait a couple of days like we planned.  We went to a pet store and bought everything that we would need and returned to pick up Tucker.  We brought him home and gave him a flea bath (just in case).  The next day, both my husband and I had to work, so we put him in the kitchen and put up baby gates.  My mother in law, who works down the street from our house, offered to stop by and check on Tucker.  When I got home, I was greeted at the door by Tucker.  He had managed to jump over the gates.  What I didn't know was that he had also greeted my mother in law at the door and she had put him the kitchen.  Needless to say, Tucker had free reign of the house after that.  He has been a great companion and we are very lucky to have found such a wonderful and well behaved dog.

This past July, I was on Facebook and noticed that my friend had posted some animals that were on Kijiji and offered free to a good home.  Most are senior dogs whose owners are no longer able to care for them for whatever reason.  What I didn't know was that these dogs are frequently picked up for use in experiments or are used as bait dogs in dog fighting.  One of the ads that I saw caught my eye. It was for a Shih tzu named Minipoo.  He was described as being only paper trained, constantly spinning in circles, not liking to be cuddled or petted.  Really, in hindsight, I have no idea why I was so drawn to him.  I contacted the daughter of the owner by email.  I had several questions and received good answers.  Nothing was sugar coated.  They were very honest that Minipoo was not your average dog.

We scheduled a time to go meet Minipoo and brought Tucker with us.  Minipoo's owners were originally from Taiwan and were returning there to look after an elderly family member.  Apparently, the quarantine period for animals entering Taiwan is 6 months.  Mini does not tolerate being crated and at the age of 10 this would be very challenging for him.  We were told that more that 30 people responded to the ad and that most of them simply said that they would take him.  The family seemed appreciative that we had asked so many questions and had brought our dog to meet him.  I know that you by now have realized that we call the dog Mini and that I said "he".  Mini may seem like a strange name for a male dog, but that was not always his name, we found out.  He started as Popeye and the family eventually nicknamed him Minipoo.  We shortened that to Mini.  The two dogs did not interact much at this introduction.  We took both dogs for a walk together and Todd and I discussed what we should do.  We both agreed to give Mini a chance.  He definitely did spin, he would let me carry him and would tolerate sitting on my knee.  He has been more work than Tucker, but we are glad to be able to give him a good home for his retirement years! He doesn't spin as much anymore, he goes to the bathroom outside (most of the time), he loves to be near people and be petted and loves to play. When I describe Mini I like to say, "His teeth are bad, he spins when he is excited, he pees on the floor every time we leave him at home, he has warts on his back and he gets really grumpy when he's tired and will growl if you bother him, but I love him."

The dogs never bother much with each other, so seeing them sleeping together felt like a breakthrough.  Unfortunately, we believe that Mini has been having a few seizures recently and will be taking a trip to the vet soon.  Hopefully, it doesn't signal that his health is declining, but if it does, I know that we have given him a great home where he is surrounded by people (and dogs) that love him.  Woof!

The Simple Things in Life Must Include Chicken Noodle Soup

Today was one of those days that you expect this time of year.  The kids have gone back to school and the first thing that happens is everyone gets sick!  Every member of our house has either a runny nose, a sore throat or a cough. What better thing to help than homemade chicken noodle soup.  I use a great recipe from the book, The Eat-Clean Diet for Family & Kids by Tosca Reno.  Check out the recipe on their blog http://eatcleandiet.blogspot.com/2010/12/day-12-of-25-days-of-giving.html

I love to make my own chicken stock.  It makes me feel like I am making a meal for free.  I've already made a meal with a whole chicken (or a precooked chicken from the grocery store). 

You may notice that the recipe calls for a lot of vegetables to be cooked in with the stock and then discarded.  This makes the stock so much more flavourful.  Make sure that you don't skip this.  Also, I don't recommend skipping the brussell sprouts that it calls for when you make the soup.  I don't love brussell sprouts, but it adds a certain something.  I didn't have any when I made the soup tonight and it wasn't the same. 

As a mom, I like to make food from scratch as often as I can.  It not only tastes better, but I feel good knowing that I have added wholesome ingredients and I have total contorl over what's in the food I feed my family.

What's your favourite comfort food or food you love to make from scratch??

Where Did I Find the Humour in Life Before I Had Kids?

My son and I were driving through a residential area one day about a week ago and all of a sudden I hear,

"Mom, I just saw a yacht!"

Me: "You did?!?"

"Yep......well, it was either a yacht or a gazebo."

Me: "......"

"Mom, what's a yacht?"

Me: "It's a big fancy boat."

"Oh, then it was a gazebo"

Me: "......"

"Mom, what's a gazebo?"

Me: "It's a place you can sit and there's a roof above it."

"Definitely a gazebo then."

Conversations like this seem to be the norm in our house.  Most of the time I manage to keep a very straight and serious face and then later, my husband and I have a laugh over it.  Feel free to share your stories of things kids have said that have made you laugh!!

Sometimes I Wonder About My Mothering Skills

So my 4 year old daughter and I were driving home from the grocery store and she starts this conversation.

"Mom, is tomorrow the weekend?"
"Yes"
"What about the day after tomorrow?"
"No."
"School?"
"Yep."
"Damn."
"Pardon?"
"Damn."
"That's not a word we use."
"Okay....that's stupid."
"Can we go with silly?"
"I guess"

Really??  I guess it's not as bad as the time she came home from junior kindergarten saying the F-word...... 
Well, I'll keep trying :)

So it dawned on me today.  Most of the things that I have experienced in life are relatively common.  I was a full time working mom. Common.  I quit my job to be a stay at home mom.  Somewhat common.  I now run a home daycare to make ends meet.  Fairly common.  I have a husband, 2 kids and 2 dogs.  Pretty common.  I suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of my second child.  More common than people realize.  I am chubby.  I always have been (other than those short periods of time in my life when I lost weight only to gain it back eventually).  Very common.  So, I decided to start this blog to talk about my life and to hopefully hear from other (common) people about their experiences too.  So sit back and enjoy!