Look at all those socks!

]]> http://ameliayap.com/mummy-thoughts/2012/04/laundry-day/feed/ 0 http://ameliayap.com/mummy-thoughts/2011/10/fall-apples-in-ottawa/ http://ameliayap.com/mummy-thoughts/2011/10/fall-apples-in-ottawa/#comments Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:29:23 +0000 http://ameliayap.com/mummy-thoughts/?p=1888 Since we are in Ottawa this fall, we havn’t had a chance to enjoy the wonderful apples from my mum’s tree in Winnipeg.  But we have had our share of yummy free apples here. When the kids returned back to school in September we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the tree right in front of the school was an apple tree.  Imagine my excitement of being able to make those apple pies and apple crumble.

The school encourage us to pick the apples to enjoy instead of letting them go to waste.  So that is what we did.  Every day after school, we stopped to pick apples on the way home.  The kids loved climbing the tree and picking and eating those apples straight from the tree.

There are still tons of apples on the tree.  Unfortunately they are now too high to climb to pick.  So yesterday we took the ladder and we picked more apples.  Made juice yesterday and will make another apple crisp today!  The super easy recipe is at the bottom of the blog.

The big surprise was when Kyle came home from one of his customers this week who is a farmer.  Check out the size of that apple.  Kyle is not sure whether to eat it or not.  I remember seeing apples that size in Australia….

The apple is as big as her head

His favourite fruit!

Guess which one is from the farm and which one is from the school

Apple Oatmeal Crisp

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup butter melted
Mixed the above ingredient together and line the pan with half the mixture.

4 cups sliced apples
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Mix the apples together with the sugar and cinnamon and place on top of the oatmeal mixture.
Top off the apples with the remaining half of the oatmeal mixture.

Place it in the oven for 350F for 45minutes.
Enjoy!
The kids like it with ice-cream.

A couple of months ago, JAZZ Solar Solutions, the company Kyle works at had an information booth at the Green Expo here in Ottawa. I decided to go out help out with making contacts and meeting potential customers. In preparation of that, I decided that I better brush up on my technical knowledge and learn everything about Photo Voltaics also know as Solar Panels. The design and multiple and applications. Having the engineering background helped a lot with understanding the workings of the system. It was so much fun to learn again, it has been so long since I did any sort of technical application. What I didn’t know, I had an in-house teacher in Kyle and I figured I would learn on the job.

So I spent 2 days at the Green Expo and met so many cool people from different walks of life with different needs and ideas. I really enjoyed that. After that I was hooked, I did another show the weekend after and now I am back in the work force, doing sales for JAZZ Solar Solutions.

It has been a challenging couple of months. Learning about all this new stuff, talking to and teaching potential customers. Working on fitting in the sales calls and meetings into my already busy schedule. Like they said if you want anything done, give it to a busy person.

My main priority in life is still the kids and family so I only work in between school, activities and meals. Sometimes I think I am crazy adding work into my life but it is quite exciting to be back working.  I have the idea job, working around my schedule, working when I can and if I can.

While I was home full time, I would be visit my friends at their work place, I would sometimes wonder what it would be like to be back working outside the home, and knew I wouldn’t be able to do a 9-5 and be home for the children. Now I am in an ideal situation. I am back in the workforce and work around the family’s schedule.

Sometime, I do information seminars at night and if Kyle is working late, I take the kids with me on the bus. They occupy themselves with their books and crafts and on his way home, Kyle comes and picks them up. One Saturday Kyle even took them on a job site with him. I had sales training and he had to finish a ground mount installation. The property was really sandy so we bought them some sand toys at a garage sale and they spent the afternoon hanging out with daddy. They had a blast. They also came to one of the trade shows with us. Hung around the booth and did their own thing.

I am fortunate that the kids are so flexible, they are learning to respect my time when I am working. They understand when I am working at home, they cannot bother unless it is really pressing.  They have to solve their own issues which mostly involves each other….

My life is never dull, sometimes I think I am crazy for taking on more.  I realize I am doing what I believe in and it is all worth it!

So you can get a day pass for Weekends and Statutory holidays.  Wow what a deal.

The next week, Natalie was sick during the week and wasn’t 100% better by Saturday, so we decided to take the bus to Chinese school.  Since then we have been taking the bus, and it has worked out well especially when we had the rain/snow and walking through the slush would have been so yucky!  With the day pass, we have been getting so much done.  During Chinese school, we have taken so many side trips.  One weekend Kyle went to do laundry, last week we went downtown to the Apple store to fix my computer.  It has work for after school trips.  I had to go to the store which was about 5 bus stops away but we took the bus instead and save all the complaining from the kids.  With Kyle’s iPhone, he just checks to see when the bus comes so when we are in the store, we know exactly when we have to leave to catch the return bus.

Not having a vehicle still works for us.  With such a great public transport system, we are able to get around quite easily and cheaply.  Less hassle and we have someone driving us.  Great especially when the weather is foul!

Our first big thing was traveling to Ottawa by train. When I first looked into airfares on flying to Ottawa, there was a seat sale. Then when we decided when to come, the seat sale was over and I did not want to pay more so I decided to wait. At this time, Kyle was traveling to Toronto from Ottawa on the train and he suggested looking into that option.

At first I thought that that would be so troublesome but was open to different options.  I was surprised to find that the prices were so much cheaper for the train than the plane, actually the price of the airline ticket for me was cheaper except that there are so many taxes and charges on the plane that traveling by train became cheaper. My total train ride from Winnipeg to Ottawa was $228 and the 3 kids were half price at $114 per child. Mind you I ended up paying about $30 in tips for the porters but still that was a savings of over $200. My dad said that if I ate in the dinning car and all the food I bought, it would actually end up costing me more. I had to remind him, I still had to eat and the food I bought would have been food I had to buy anyways. The meal for the 4 of us on the train was less than $30. The experience and memories are priceless.

Think about how train travel is more environmentally friendly. It is the most eco-friendly way to get around, other than walking or biking. It’s certainly more efficient and less polluting than flying or driving a car. So it is cheaper and better for the environment.

When we lived in Ottawa before, we lived in the suburbs, lots of driving to get anywhere. So now we live in Ottawa, walking distance to everything I need, 7 minutes to church, 10 minutes to the library(because we have to walk up a hill), 15 minutes to the grocery store and a 2.5km walk to Chinese school. So we have decided not to own a car. The public transportation is really good here. If we need to, we can always take a taxi or rent a car. 1 less car on the road, less pollution.

Kyle works for Jazz Solar, a solar installation company here in Ottawa.  He takes the bus to work, another set in the right direction.

The first thing I did Monday morning was to apply for a Ontario driver’s license, so that I would have an ID with an Ottawa address, we had a rental car so that worked out well.  We went to get a library card and get some books for the kids to read and got some information about the story time.  So on Wednesday I took Natalie to story time while the boys just hung out to read at the childrens’ section.

The movies here are all free too, so I have request some for myself and Kyle since we have no TV, I don’t miss it at all though.  We keep ourselves so busy with the homeschooling and the kids playing that no one really misses it.  The Carlingwood library has such a great selection of books and audios too.  I have borrowed french and mandarin audios for the kids to listen to.  It is great as they can listen and play at the same time.

I guess I never really appreciated the library before, they have museum passes for the family.  There is no cost to these passes and it admits a family of 5.  But since they are so popular, there is a long wait list for them.  I have put my request in, I am about 150 on the wait list, wonder when I will get the pass…

It didn’t disappoint.  We went to the train station with all our 16 pieces of luggage, 8 to check in and 2 for each of us for the train, one with pillows and blankets and the other for their toys and stuff.  I of course had the 2 food bags….  Anyways, we get to the train station with my parents, Kyle’s mum, his brother and his wife.  It was nice to have people sending us off.  Matthew got a little emotional and was a little sad, the other 2 were so tired, they just wanted to get off their feet and get on the train. They had been so looking forward to traveling plus it was 10:30 at night.

Hauling our stuff to the train.

After saying goodbye to everyone, we head onto the platform where we had to take the long walk outdoors to our coach. Thank goodness for porters, they took my super heavy food bags for me all the way to our seats. I was so overwhelmed (I felt like a little kid), I forgot to tip him!

The train finally pulled out of the station at 12:15am, the kids were still wide eyed, and looking at all the city lights and figuring where they were in the city.  Finally when there are no more lights from the city, they are willing to pull down the blinds to go to sleep.

Natalie ready for bed.

Boys getting comfortable.

The next day they all woke up happy and we had our packaged breakfast at our seats and enjoyed the views from the large train windows. At one point, the train stopped in the middle of nowhere. I asked the conductor and he said that there are many cottages along the train and they often pick people up along the track. As there are mile markers along the track, they can request a specific pickup/drop off point. I thought that was cool. One other thing, we stopped at CN Collins and picked up some young people with backpacks, they went straight to the dinning car. 10-15 minutes later they got off the train. Someone said that that was their ride to school! Wonder how they got home. All these little facts that you wouldn’t have know…

Beautiful winter setting.

We spent the morning on the sky train, there we could see everything.  The front of the train and the back of the train.  It was cool to be able to see as the train goes around a bend or changing tracks.  Just like when you are playing with those toy trains on tracks…  The kids kept themselves busy with their toys and books while I started my newest knitting project.

Watching the train from the skytrain.

The train changing tracks.

For lunch, we decided to treat ourselves to a meal on the dinning car. The kids love being served and the dinning car was so bright and cheery. Great service and very reasonable prices. Another little fact, the prices on the menu include taxes. It is easier for the accounting department to figure our where in the country the meals are served and the provinces get their appropriate taxes than for the servers to charge the taxes. So the prices you see on the menu is what you pay, excluding tips of course. In the coaches, many people seem to sleep all day so the lighting in the cars are usually pretty dim, so unlike the dinning car.

Lunch in the dinning car.

In the afternoon, we decided to just relax. I tried to get them all to have a nap since we went to bed so late the night before but not a chance, so they just read. The kids felt so comfortable on they train, they moved from the coach train to the skytrain by themselves except for Natalie, as the doors were too heavy for her.

Relaxing and reading.

I promised them a movie in the afternoon after they rested, unfortunately when they were ready to watch, someone else was watching a movie on TV in the dinning car, so they ended up watching it on my computer. Good thing they have electrical points on the train.

kids watching a movie.

After dinner, they even had entertainment. Jared from Quebec, played some songs from some Canadian composers and some of his his own compositions. It was a nice addition to the day. It was so funny, only a handful of people came to listen even though it was announced over the PA. I think the music was good but Andrew on the other hand was so tired, he was lulled to sleep.

Jared our onboard entertainer.

Andrew couldn't quite stay awake.

Saturday we arrived in Toronto an hour early. We got a porter to take our luggage onto the train so we were free of bags for our 2 hour layover in Toronto.

The porter taking our 8 pieces of luggage onto the next train.

CN tower on a cloudy day.

Traveling with kids is the best. We never have to stand in line, we just wait in the waiting area and get priority boarding. I guess everyone prefers it when they don’t have to put up with whiny kids standing in line, plus the extra time is very important to settle the kids, make sure they are all comfortable before the train leaves.

On board the VIA train towards Ottawa.

Finally at 5pm, we arrive in Ottawa, 41 hours after leaving Winnipeg. The kids were so happy to see Daddy. I personally enjoyed the train ride, so did the kids, and I highly recommend it, as it was fun. For the older folk, I suggest getting a berth as the coach seat isn’t the most comfortable for the achy bones but it worked for the kids and myself.

Ottawa, 41 hours after leaving Winnipeg.

We put in an application for an apartment for December 1st.  2 days later we got the dreaded call that our application was denied.  It was a little bit of a blow to the system.   What went wrong?  We knew that we had a good credit rating.  The wouldn’t tell us why they turned down our application.  The apartments that we looked at has 70% seniors and I personally think it’s because we had 3 young kids and had to take our application.  I just went back online to look for another place.

I found another place that was on the main floor of a triplex, which had a deck and a backyard.  I thought how perfect, it costs a little more but I can just send the kids outside and I can still keep on eye on them from the comfort and warmth of the great indoors…  Perhaps it was a good thing that the apartment application was denied.

Unfortunately, Kyle was in Winnipeg for the weekend so he couldn’t go out to see the place.  I spoke to the landlord Mike, who said that he would show it to Kyle when he got back into town.  Of course when Kyle got back to Ottawa a few days later, he had already rented the place out.  Another blow.  In my mind I kept thinking that perhaps the other peoples application would be denied.  After 48 hours, the chances were slim so the search continued.  I couldn’t help thinking in the back of my mind perhaps the other application could still be rejected, but what were the chances?

In the following week, nothing came available in the area we were looking at, so we started hunting in other areas, keeping in mind our prior needs.  We found a few places in the Hintonburg area and Kyle made appointments to see the places.  Of course on the day of the appointments, Kyle got a call from the Mike, he said that the application for the other tenants had been turned down.  Yeah!  So after looking at the places in Hintonburg, Kyle went to see Mike’s place in Carlingwood.   So now we had an idea of other rentals and guess what, we will be renting Mike’s place in the Carlingwood area!

Like I said, everything happens for a reason and that reason is there to serve you.  So being turned down initially was a good thing (even thought it was hard to see when it happened) so now we will be in a 2 bedroom, main floor of a triplex with hardwood floors, a deck, a backyard and close to all the amenities.  The kids can play outside and I can be indoor doing whatever I need to, much better than an apartment.  Looking at the other properties also gives us a better appreciation of our rental.   Now we can walk everywhere, our little contribution to the environment.

Kyle is currently in Ottawa working with Jazz Solar, working with some guys that he used to work for over 7 years ago at Ceyba.  He has been there for almost a month and really enjoys it.  Like all start ups, he is working long hours so it is a good thing we are not there yet.  We are moving in the New Year and planning to live the Carlingwood area, close to the library, grocery store, church, the Y and Chinese school.  All within walking distances, less greenhouse gases…

We are all looking forward to the move, seeing friends again after many years.  It will be lots of fun, we are off for another adventure.