A New Year, A New Blog

What do a big-city girl and a teeny country village have in common? Um, yah, I’m still trying to figure that one out. I moved to a tiny village of approx. 300 people, in the middle of nowhere, a year and a half ago with my husband. He wanted to pursue his dream of managing a restaurant (and get away from his J-O-B that he had previously) and to give our family the chance to expand, as living in the city had become much too expensive. I became pregnant with our second child, shortly after moving here, so spent the majority of our first year trying to keep my breakfast down, my eyelids open, the hyper preschooler in line and my husband from going insane! (No one said it was going to be easy!).

This is not the reason for my blog.

This is:

After a year of living here and adjusting to rural life (I don’t know that I’ll ever completely adjust- bugs give me literal anxiety!) and settling into a routine with my now family of 4, and having got into the swing of things with our job, I’m now bored. I’ve been contemplating what exactly it is that people around here do for fun. In the city if I was bored I’d call up a friend and we’d hit the mall and go shopping or go out for coffee, go to a local park for a picnic or to feed ducks, go see a movie, etc. Here there aren't those options. Okay, maybe some of them. I'm pretty sure I've seen some ducks.

I like to craft. Unfortunately for me, I have 1 bin of craft-type stuff and that’s it. And those craft things are mostly left-overs from various baby showers or preschool crafts that I’ve done (think Popsicle sticks, pipe-cleaners, school glue and fun foam), so they’re not exactly suitable for “adult” type crafts. Sigh. So why not go shopping to get some new craft supplies you ask?

Let me paint you a picture of what my village has to offer:

Rec Center – This is the “fun” place to be.

It has a newly-renovated skating rink which is open for maybe 6 months out of the year. This would be ok if my oldest son (who is 3) was 100% potty trained – (I am not taking him out on the ice, only to be running to the bathroom and stripping off all those layers of snowpants, mitts, coat, etc.- only to find that he’s already peed his pants and we need to go home now!- whew!) and could skate. We did venture out on to the ice last winter with him in his bob skates ( you know those double bladed strap on skates) We were on the ice all of 10 minutes before he declared that it was “too slippery” and thus ended our adventures in skating.

Curling Rink. – Have I mentioned that I hate the cold? No? Well, I hate the cold. And along with that goes any sport that takes place in mainly cold places. My DS loves to play hockey in the house with us with his plastic hockey sticks. I was disappointed to learn that hockey is so big here, as that was the one thing I’ve told our son from the time he was born, that he couldn’t play because I did not want to freeze my butt off sitting at millions of games and getting up early for practices (Next to winter, early mornings are my least favourite things) – I try to encourage him to play with his basketball or soccer ball – but I digress.

Mini- golf – No, this is not the kind of mini golf that has the cool little windmills, ramps and cuteness that usually personify miniature golf. This is some astro-turf, metal rails, with holes drilled into the cement. Yah.

Bowling – There are two 5-pin bowling lanes, which are decent. Rather…ahem…retro…yah, that’s it. Retro. *Translated, haven’t been updated since 1960. There is a giant fish decorating the wall above the lanes. Yes, a fish. In a bowling alley. Don’t ask.* I will admit that I have enjoyed the few times we've ventured over to play a round or two of bowling, and the one thing it does have going for it is that it is cheap!

Pool Table/darts – I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone using either of these. Oh, wait. The pool table was used once - to hold dessert during a big community fund-raising dinner.

A wall of rental movies. Only one copy per movie. Last time I checked “Kung-fu Panda” was still on the ‘new-release’ wall. ‘nuff said

A snack bar/pizza place. We mainly only go there for ice cream during the summer and occasionally for pizza. Timeliness is not always the strong suit there, so you either have to call ahead before you get hungry, or bring a snack.

Other attractions of note:

A gas station containing 2 pumps. 1 regular gas, 1 diesel

2 small grocery stores. I think one of the biggest adjustments has been coming to terms with the fact that not everything is available here. Especially not any “weird” ingredients. And by weird, I mean: White wine vinegar, Cumin, Eggplant. It is especially difficult to find fresh ingredients. Big cities have the luxury of receiving the produce fresh off the truck as one of the first stops on its route. Small towns, not so much. I'm pretty sure when the stores here receive their produce, it is already half-way to expiring. I have learned (the hard way) that you need to read the expiration dates on e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Small stores do not move inventory like big stores do. Even in the bigger store in the town 50km north of us they have the same issues.

We also have a bank and an insurance office, 2 churches and a firehall/ems, 1 school (K-SR.H) Oh, I almost forgot about the golf course, but I don't golf - in fact in the 18 months that we've been here, I don't even have a clue as to where the golf course is located.

Oh, and of course the restaurant and motel that my husband and I manage. Which kind of puts a damper on things, because when you ARE the restaurant, eating out (at least here) has no appeal, it becomes old hat. In fact, I rarely eat in our restaurant (and not because the food is bad, because I happen to think that my hubby is a fabulous cook). It's more like the novelty has worn out and also, taking a preschooler and a baby out to eat by yourself really is not fun!

The next town over has an outdoor pool that it open for 3 (maybe less) months out of the year. We didn't go swimming last summer as I just had my daughter and a) I was not about to drag my newborn into the pool and, b) there is no way that I could ever hope to fit in any of the bathing suits I have stashed in my closet. (This second pregnancy was not kind to my body). Hopefully this next summer I'll be able to send my son to take swimming lessons.

I know this is rather long-winded, but I thought you might want to know a little of my background. And if you don't care, but have still read this far, I guess it's too late now, huh?

This blog is all about my adventures in keeping myself entertained. It'll likely contain a little of this, and a little of that. Crafts, sewing, photography, baking. Whatever strikes my fancy and keeps me part of the sane world. I'm not striving to be some big-shot blogger with sponsors and the whole bit, but if you want to follow along, I'd love to have you!

{disclaimer- I'm really new to writing blogs. I have no idea how to even post pictures. There will be a learning curve.}