Battle of the W Logos

We have a bit of a debate going on in my house, which W logo is better? As anyone who knows me I might have a bit of an obsession going on with WordPress swag. There are an awful lot of things in my office and life that have the WordPress logo front and centre.

My wife on the other hand has had a crush on Donnie Walhberg since the New Kids on the Block came on the scene many years ago. So when their family opened the Walhburgers Restaurants she decided she needed to get a bit of their swag. That nostalgia is pretty hard to compete with.

So, don’t judge based on the model in the picture, that isn’t fair to me or WordPress, but which W logo is best? We bought the Walhburgers hat for her Father but she wouldn’t put it on for the picture 🙂

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Finding Time for Yourself

The topic of freedom has been on my mind for a while now. During my later teenage years I had more freedom than I knew what to do with. Now there are days when it sometimes feels like my time really isn’t my own.

Honestly I have nothing to complain about in my life, I’m a very lucky guy but some days can get hectic and it makes me wish for a little down time while I’m still awake. As it is I get up early in the  morning to try and fit in a run then start work at a good time so that I’m free in the later afternoon / evening to be there to run errands or run kids to where they need to be.

No one kid is in a lot of things, but multiply that by four and it doesn’t take long before the schedule is getting full. For the most part it’s great. I get to watch my oldest ride horses, something that she excels in and loves doing. My son playing soccer with so much energy and enthusiasm. My middle two, daughters who love performing. Whether it’s drama, dancing, or combining the two.Watching them do these things gives me great happiness and I’m thankful that I’m able to be there and am able to provide these things for them.

Dance class can be rather nice break sometimes though. As you’re not able to watch them practice if you can get the errands ran quickly it leaves some time you can go grab a coffee and read a book before it’s time to pick them back up again.

Yesterday I had to go to the library to return a book and then check it right back out again because I had renewed it twice online and couldn’t do it again. It’s a really good book, but I just can’t seem to find the time to read it while my mind is awake.

On occasion where I try to sneak off to get a few pages in the guilt I feel is real. My wife is a super human I’m convinced and that doesn’t help. She never seems to need a break and is always going strong. As there are always things around the house that can be done she is always finding them and doing them. So if I’m off reading while she’s making supper, or vacuuming, that just doesn’t seem fair does it. If I could convince her to take some time for herself it might be better, but that’s a hard sell.

With the kids getting older it seems to be getting worse. They stay up later which takes away from the quiet time we used to get when they went to bed earlier. There are some nights now that the oldest and I go to bed at the same time.

As I mentioned before as a teenager there was a time where I answered to no one. I had pretty much as close to zero responsibility as there was. That wasn’t a good thing either. As it was it took my life down a harder path than I needed to go. There has to be a happy medium though. It’s important to get a bit of time by yourself to recharge.

Maybe I’m feeling this way because for the past few days I haven’t been getting our running, so that bit of time that I used to clear my head isn’t there. When I was running more often last year that was one of my favourite parts. Having a cold has made it tough so I’ve been trying to rest so I’ll get better quicker. Tomorrow might be the day that I give it a try again. The last week when I was running a lot seemed to go much smoother and have me in a better mental state.

How does everyone else find the balance of work, family, and personal time? Do you feel you get enough personal time?

Soda Cracker Candy

Yesterday and today I was reminded of a treat that doesn’t sound like it would be great but I liked it as a kid and my kids really like it as well.

Jen made them yesterday for a snack for the first time ever. Today when my Mother was dropping off Caile from a sleep over they had made them today and sent them home for everyone.

They’re pretty simple and really tasty. You should certainly try them.

Soda Cracker Candy

  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 Cup Butter
  • Soda Crackers
  • Package of Chocolate Chips

Directions:

  • Line cookie sheet with parchment paper
  • Arrange soda crackers to cover the bottom
  • Boil brown sugar and butter for 3 minutes
  • Pour mixture over crackers and spread
  • Bake 5 minutes at 350 degrees
  • Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips when bubbling stops
  • Spread the chocolate chips
  • Refrigerate then cut into pieces

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Oh you mean like this?

Picture it, a beautiful summer evening, you’re with your family on a beautiful warm beach having a photo session with a photographer. The sun is setting and the sky looks as though an artist has used it as their canvas.

While others are having their picture taken you are walking through the edge of the water. Your kids are close by playing and walking in the water as well looking for hermit crabs and shells. You hear your wife say to your daughter, what are you doing, you can’t be taking pictures with your phone over the water like that.

You turn to look and see that the scene should be captured in a picture. You reach into your pocket to pull out your phone and oops. You look down and in the clear water you can clearly see the WordPress logo on your case staring back up at you. Quickly you pick it up and turn it off, but instantly you know it’s over. You look to your wife and daughter and say or else this could happen and show them the phone dripping with salt water.

On the way home you stop and pick up rice and put the phone in to dry it out. Knowing full well that might work if it were fresh water that might stand a chance.

Coming Home

This morning we wanted to hit the road early as Ella had dance class at 4:00pm so we wanted to make it back in time for her to not miss that. So the goal was to hit the road by 8:00am so we could have a bit of fun on the way home.

The day before I decided I wanted to take the opportunity to run along the path in Moncton’s Riverfront Park so I made sure I got up lots early and got in 5k there. The sun was rising in front of me, while the moon was still setting behind. There wasn’t another person around until I made it back to my car and someone came and started on the path.

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Right before we left home I could feel I was coming down with a cold, thanks Tiff. It’s been zapping my energy level, but it hasn’t mattered a lot because I’ve spent a fair amount of time laying on a beach the past few days. This mornings run however didn’t feel very good. I had a few coughing fits along the way and had to walk a few times.

We were still able to get going right at 8:00 so we headed to Pictou which is close to where I grew up for the most part. It’s on the same shore as the beaches we’ve been on and we stopped at Caribou beach this morning. The water wasn’t nearly as warm as the other two beaches we were at in New Brunswick, but we got in anyway.

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Any trip to Pictou County though just isn’t complete with at least one slice of Pizza. Pictou County Pizza is the best pizza there is. Some might argue that, but they would be wrong. Even Jen hadn’t liked it before, but today she tried the best there is from Acropole right in Pictou and I think she has been converted. I’ve been doing really good about eating healthy and proper portion sizes, but I couldn’t pass this up.

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It’s so good that UPS now will ship it across Canada. If you want some more info about it The Local Travelers Gillian and Drew wrote about it and even did a video series to find the best pizza in the county.

While we ate our pizza we walked along the Pictou waterfront before we hopped back in the car and made it home in just enough time to get Ella changed and back in the car to get to dance.

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Even with my cold this has been one of the best weekends I can remember in a long time. The weather was perfect, the beaches beautiful, and the company with me is the best in the world!

 

Another Fun Moncton Day

We had another fun day in Moncton today. If their winters didn’t seem to be at least as bad as ours if not worse I’d consider moving here at some point. I mean I was born in Moncton so it would sort of like be coming home.

We did a bit of back to school shopping first thing this morning, but then we were able to enjoy the rest of the day. We went to Centennial Park and to their “beach” they have there. It is a pool with sand brought in around it. The kids really enjoyed it. On the way out we stopped at the splash pad they have there as well. As long as they are wet that’s all that matters.

This evening we went back to the beach. We had a photography session booked with a friend of ours on Parlee Beach. It was a perfect evening for being on the beach and I think we are going to end up with some awesome family pictures.

We’re already looking at booking another weekend getaway here even if it might not be until next summer.

Moncton Long Weekend

This weekend Jen ended up having a long weekend thanks to August 3rd being a civic holiday. She doesn’t get a lot of days off aside from a week or so in the summer and Christmas so we took advantage and decided to take a weekend getaway to Moncton New Brunswick. Moncton is only about three hours away from home so it’s not real far, but perfect for a weekend.

With my sister and her family we grabbed a AirBnB deal with two units in the same house right on the river. The cool thing is we can walk down to the river and look across to my Grandparents old home. It’s the place we used to come and stay whenever we visited.

We wanted to leave at a good time this morning, but I still managed to get a 5K run in before we left. I got home just as Jen was getting up so I quick got showered and we got things ready to go.

We made it here in time to have a picnic lunch in the park and the kids stretched their legs on the playground after the drive. The leg stretching did me good too. Then we were ready to check in so we stopped off long enough get people changed and put our cold stuff from the cooler into the fridge and headed to the beach.

Growing up on this same shore which is on the Northumerland Straight I knew the beaches were nice. The most famous is Parlee Beach but I don’t remember coming here at all. The beach we went to was in New Glasgow Nova Scotia callled Melberby Beach. The Northumberland Straight has some fairly warm waters because it is fairly short distance across to Prince Edward Island. Taking some advice though we went to Aboiteau Beach instead of Parlee because parking was cheaper and it is usually less crowded.

It ended up being really cheap because all the paid parking area was full so we had to park a little ways away in the free parking and walk down to the beach. It was pretty crowded but it was still beautiful and we were able to find a spot to sit no problem still.

We made arrangements to meet up with friends who came down from Northern New Brunswick to have a beach day with us. As soon as we walked onto the beach though Jen’s cousins were there with their kids so we got to talk with them for a while too. Later on more friends came to spend some time with us who live really close to the beach. We had as many people on the beach with us here as we do when we arrange something at the beach at home. It was a great day!

Rest Day

This morning I was able to wake up early the way I like and I got out of bed to go for a run, but my legs and body were telling me otherwise. I was sore and cramped and I guess that makes sense, I pushed it hard for me this week.

I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made in July already getting back into running. I’m back up to 5K and each run was feeling stronger than the last, so today I gave myself a rest day. I guess that’s important to though.

We are getting ready to head away for a long weekend, I’m going to do my best to will myself out of bed in the morning and go running some of the time there too.

Here’s a look at what I’ve done so far this month. I’m still walking a bit during my 5K but it is getting less and less. Last run was only for about 30 seconds.

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Bluenosers by Choice

This is a neat campaign going on right now in Nova Scotia. Wesley Booth has started We Are NS a project looking to put Nova Scotia back on the map and into everyone’s mind. In his post Why Painting Your Nose Blue Matters he explains why he is doing what he is doing.

He’s starting today backpacking across Nova Scotia to hear and share positive stories about Nova Scotia. Here is a bit of an intro video that he recently posted as well.

For those of you not in the know, Bluenosers is a term used to refer to someone from Nova Scotia. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/bluenoser-makes-it-into-the-oxford-dictionary-1.1402642

 

Picking Raspberries

Last night we went out to pick some raspberries as a family. If you didn’t know I have a thing for raspberries. It isn’t even that they are my favourite, but they are delicious and the memories are great. This was even better as two of my Aunts were down visiting my Mom and they call came with us.

We only picked a few pints each and it didn’t take very long. It would have taken even less time if I hadn’t been doing the whole one for the basket, one for me trick. It wasn’t quite that bad, but I certainly taste tested some. It was my first time picking at Reimer Gardens but I think I’ll be back. They had a great setup and they do u-pick blueberries as well!