THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life ~ October Edition
Updated: Oct 12, 2021
This is super late!!! My parents have been at my house since the beginning of the month and they just left today. Because of this I didn't have a bunch of uninterrupted time to sit down and write this! But I'm here now and I'm ready to get caught back up on life! As for the pandemic, things got really, really bad in Alberta... But now they're improving once again. As things currently stand, in Edmonton there is 0.2% of the population with known active cases. We reached the peak of our fourth wave around mid-to-late-September and thankfully the cases are now dropping. On September 20th they introduced the "Restrictions Exemption Program" (which is just a stupid way of saying "vaccine passport") which basically means that you can do anything that you want normally as long as you've been vaccinated.
The so-called "proof" that we have to show (above) is pretty dumb and literally anyone could just make their own. However, they just introduced a QR code system today which seems far less sketchy. Regardless, I've been very pleased to continue going to restaurants and yoga classes knowing that everyone in there with me has been vaccinated. (Unvaccinated people are basically not allowed to do anything, including not being allowed to have indoor social gatherings.) September was a pretty busy month! It felt like a month of returning to routine (especially when you have a kid that goes to school). Before school started we had one last summer hurrah and visited Fort Edmonton Park for the first time ever, which was really wonderful and a ton of fun. Archie had been asking to go because he knew that they have a train there.
Finally, on September 9th, the closing date of our house arrived and we gained official possession of our home!!! We are incredibly happy that everything worked out and that we were able to buy our house!
The craziest part is that we are now spending LESS money on a mortgage payment + property taxes than we were on paying rent. So owning this house that we love just makes so much sense on every level.
The house was built in 1949, making it 72 years old. This is exactly what I love!!! There are tons of properties in our area that are being turned into infills, and while I can appreciate how modern and stylish they are, they're not my personal taste. I like 'em old. (An infill is when someone buys an old house, demolishes it, and then builds a new, ultra-modern house on the lot. They're usually tall and skinny cubes. I'm sure that they're a "thing" everywhere but they seem to be especially a thing here.) In any case, I would never live in one. I would be sad if our house became one. I'm very excited to love our old girl just the way that she is! (With some small renovations along the way over time.) Here is a look at our entire property, which I find very interesting. Our lot is 9,076 sqft, which is quite huge considering that we live centrally in the city. I cannot believe that I own so much space and actual LAND.
Needless to say, buying this house was a very big deal for us, we are very happy about it, and of course we celebrated our possession day by popping a bottle! We are homeowners once again!
Archie had his first day of 4 Year Old Preschool at Green Circle Preschool on September 10th and he has been loving being back in school with his teacher and classmates. He goes three mornings a week (Monday, Wednesday & Friday) and it continues to be a wonderful environment for him. His teacher told me that Archie seems to have matured a lot over the summer. Apparently he listens better than ever and seems really happy to be back in the classroom routine.
We FINALLY celebrated my Birthday Girls Night, which had been put off for eight months! I picked to have dinner in my current favourite restaurant, La Petite Iza. It was wonderful!
I got some pretty good medical news. I'm pretty sure that I mentioned it (but maybe I didn't?) that my cholesterol levels were yet again a bit high and my doctor was keeping an eye on it. This has been an issue for years now and I have been told that it is most likely hereditary. I had bloodwork done six months ago which showed that my triglycerides were a bit high, which has often been the case for me during my adult life (while my other types of cholesterol are normal). I worked to eat things that would help improve the situation and of course I kept up an active lifestyle. Six months later, I had bloodwork done again... And I've made a massive improvement!! I still need to follow-up with my doctor but I think that I've finally figured out what I need to do to be healthy. In other news, I did get my period again after a 51 day cycle, which was shorter than the last time. It seems like things might be (slowly) regulating in the uterus department. I'm feeling pretty good knowing that some of these health worries seem to be off of my plate.
I've been attending lots of Yelp Elite events! I usually do at least one per month. I'm totally loving the Yelp community and the fact that they feed me FREE delicious things all the time. Going to the events definitely feels a lot more like the pandemic "before times," which I enjoy.
Tim had some friends visit from Toronto and it was nice to go out to dinner with them and catch up. We had dinner at Biera, which is another of our favourite restaurants.
We had a Federal Election!
I was pretty happy with the Federal Election results. Personally, I like Trudeau as our Prime Minister. I know that lots of people are saying that the election was a waste of time because the results are the same as before, but this is not the case in Alberta. After the 2019 election there was only ONE non-Conservative riding in the whole province (the one that I currently live in). But things are different now...
The province now has four non-Conservative ridings (two Liberal and two NDP) which is kinda a big deal. I really like the Edmonton that I get to live in now. Alberta is a major Conservative stronghold but Edmonton actually isn't. I always knew that this city was cool. :P I personally voted for the Green Party like I always do but I knew that the NDP were a total lock in my riding. Also, I just wanted to say that I have nothing against people who vote Conservative. We're all good people and we all have to vote for whatever party we feel aligns with what matters to us. The important part is that we vote, no matter our choice. Carrie was BACK in Edmonton from Regina for a few nights! This time she was on her way to Vancouver permanently! She is starting her real adult life! She has a grown up career and a beautiful apartment and I am very, very proud of her. Can't wait to visit her in VanCity!
AND I also did a bunch of this stuff...
My parents arrived in Edmonton from Regina and settled in with us for a few weeks. One of the first things that we did with them was to head off to Jasper for three nights. We stayed at our favourite cabins and had a generally wonderful fall mountain time!
Life with Archie: First of all, I finally have a photo of ALL of the kids wearing their tie-dye shirts from Archie's birthday party back in July. Two of the kids couldn't make it to the party but we made them shirts anyway.
Archie was VERY excited to return to school! It's very obvious that he loves being back in the routine and I can see how positively preschool affects him. Plus his BFF Jonah is there, whom he loves. He was also the first kid of the year to get to do Show and Tell, and was very excited to explain his toy car to his class.
I'm also just gonna say that they had RED DAY at preschool and mom nailed it.
Archie also started a 12 week KinderGym2 WOW Leaf Hoppers gymnastics program which he attends once a week. He's super into it. His instructor told me that he listens well and can already do all of the tricks that they're learning.
AND LASTLY... Here's a direct comparison of me and Archie's school photos when we were the exact same age! Archie is in 4 Year Old Preschool and I'm in Junior Kindergarten.
October is here and it feels like the fall. The leaves are all golden and beautiful.
We spent the beginning of the month in Jasper and we also did our annual family photography while we were there. Mountain time is always the best time.
My parents were visiting for the first part of the month.
Tim's vasectomy finally took place on October 7th!!
We celebrated Tim's 38th birthday early (because of the free childcare) and I had a fun night planned for him which included an overnight stay in our favourite fancy hotel. Plus a special dinner!
And of course we also celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey feast!
I will elaborate on all of the above mentioned stuff in next month's blog.
Tim's actual 38th birthday is on October 21st, so I'm sure we'll do a little something on that day as well.
And of course Halloween is at the end of the month, which is always super fun. Archie is dressing up as Poe Dameron from Star Wars. (Which is mainly for Tim's enjoyment, ha ha.) I hope to be more on top of things going forward. Although, I feel like Christmas is gonna come in hot and fast and that freaks me out. o_O THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: October 7th is Colen Quinn's 14th wedding anniversary!
I hope that you and Jeff were able to ditch the kids to do something special! October 7th is Melanie Watson's 3rd wedding anniversary!
I hope that you and Ron were able to ditch the kids to do something special! October 13th is Kristen Smith's 9th wedding anniversary!
I hope that you and Dallas can ditch the kids and do something special! October 24th is Rachelle Spence’s 37th birthday!
Wishing you the most wonderful day, my special friend. I hope that Sarah spoils you beyond words and that you feel truly celebrated! You deserve every good thing that the world has to offer and I love you very much. I cannot wait to have a super fun gluten-free girls night for your birthday and to shower you with love and presents! You mean so much to me and I can't wait to give you a huge hug soon. <3
Comments