End of January

So the first month of 2018 is finished!
It has been a cold, hard month!
I know it's winter but the temperatures this month have been lower than normal.
Here it usually gets down to between 0 to 5C.  This month has seen lows of
-2C. Very cold.
One thing to do when it is cold is bake and David has been baking like crazy!

Cakes and apple pie made by David,  very nice.

MIL gets out of hospital tomorrow!  And I have no idea what she is thinking!  She is not mobile, needing two walking canes to get around.  She can have home help three or four times a week to help out with shopping, cleaning, laundry etc.  She has refused this service and it can't be forced on her!  She thinks that her younger sister will take her shopping, but her sister said no.  MIL then decided that we would drive almost an hour, take her shopping, take care of her and drive an hour back!  Sorry but we are working 6 days a week! There isn't enough hours in the day to do what I have to do now and having that extra responsibility would be too much!  The next few months are going to be interesting!

Snow

We've had a few flurries of snow the past couple of days!
I love how the news plays up 5cms of snow! The news headlines keep saying that there will be heavy snow over the next couple of days!  So I got up expecting 15 to 20cms but it was just a dusting! By lunchtime most of it had melted!  But it looked nice while it lasted!

We has a visitor

This week was Mikey's birthday.  David made a lovely beef stew and a chocolate cake!

Cake for Mikey's birthday!

Happy New Year

So 2018 is here!
December was a tough month for me, as always!
This time it wasn't just the memories of my husband but also dealing with my mother-in-law and with my kids no longer being kids!

First the fun things. I love Christmas so of course go all out to celebrate it!
The beginning of December Mikey, Christopher and I took of for Costco! The problem was the only time we had to go was on a Sunday. It was packed, couldn't move packed!  But I got the meat I wanted.  Kids asked for roast lamb for their Christmas dinner.  I have never seen lamb in the local supermarkets here so it is a real treat!  After shopping we went to the malls food court for lunch and had an Indian curry, very nice and different!
We got our tree up with less difficulty than last year, looked nice!

A strange visitor on the tree!!

The rest of the month passed in a flurry of activities. Our students got treated to lots of cookies and fun games on the last week of teaching. It was great fun, if a bit noisy at times!

The other thing that has taken up so much time is dealing with my mother-in-law.  She wants to return home and I understand that. If I felt  she could take care of herself I would support her, but even before the accident she had a hard time taking care of herself, so now I think it is impossible.  My biggest worry is her driving.  The doctor told her she is not to drive. When she was asked about this acted all innocent, saying that she hadn't heard such a thing!  So I told the social worker that I was not happy about her going back if the car was still there! If she has a car she will drive!  I have until the end of January to figure out what to do!

New Years was nice and quiet!  Just hanging out with the kids, watching too much TV.  I caved in and paid for Netflix, so much to watch.  I'm happy!
This week we have two birthdays!   Christopher turned twenty and Mikey will be 26.  I still can't believe they are so grown up!
A few photos to finish with!

My old sofa

New sofa

Mikey in a bucket

A new friend

Christopher looking handsome