First Monday of school break - how's that going so far?

So it's the first Monday that the kids don't have to go to school. How is that working out for you, particularly if you intended to send your children to city-run daycare or camp?

Here's our latest thing on the negotiations, and a look at how people are changing their habits by switching to cloth diapers, pooling kitchen scraps in backyard composts, etc.

Some people have been contacting me on Twitter to tell me about camps that still have room. These include Inner Golf, Lytton Park Tennis Camp, and ArtsExpress. If you've got others to share, please let me know.

On a related topic, I kind of woke up with a bit of a New Year's resolution sort of feeling today for no good reason. To me it feels like it's the real first official day of summer since the kids were allowed to laze about in jammies this morning. On odd time to get motivated, perhaps, given that I would rather have enjoyed a summer-holiday Monday myself. But because mine is one of those personalities that clings to firsts of any new season as an opportunity to get my goal-setting freak on, I decided to turn over several new leaves today:

1) No longer will I use personal life calamities of eight months ago to justify driving to work. I don't need to be alone in my car that badly. I'm wasting all kinds of money on parking, but more importantly than that, it's heinous for the environment and a crap example for the kids. I've been a rocket rider for most of the last decade. I'm getting my bum back on the subway and streetcar where I will enjoy reading my paper (when I'm lucky enough to get a seat) and feeling virtuous. (Thank you, dude who gave me his seat just because I was having a hard time keeping my balance in my fetching orange wedge sandals.)

2) I'm buying smaller amounts of produce at once because this strike makes it all the worse to throw stuff out. Of course it's never a good time to have to chuck entire bags of organic salad greens but it just seems terrible right now, particularly since everything we cart to the transfer stations is just put in one big ol' pile to go to the landfill. Item 1 will make that easier, because I'm more likely to stop by a green grocer when I'm walking by each day, rather than when I have to find somewhere to park (note to self: pay parking tickets).

3) I'm bringing my lunch to work more often. I don't like the cafeteria food, it's a waste of money, it's not good for me, and, again, I don't want to be responsible for Styrofoam and it's Michigan odyssey.

4) I'm renewing my commitment to my exercise routine, which has somehow come apart a bit in the last six weeks. Setting aside the obvious health benefits, I need it as a mood-lifter and stress-buster to counter the truckloads of working-parent anxiety and guilt I experience each week. And I like having the boys see me leave the house in my running gear. It gives me a little more credibility when I'm turning off Treehouse and hauling out that old chestnut: "Just go outside! You'll LIKE it when you get out there."

Despite stinky garbage piles and an uncertain camp schedule, I'm looking at the summer with a fair amount of optimism. May we all have the picnic days and sandcastle builds of our ideal family summers. Why delay? Have a picnic on Canada Day or next weekend because there's nothing like Labour Day "we never went to _______" regret). Don't let it happen to you.

Comments

[Sandy Naiman]

Hi Brandie,

You are an inspiration. I'm going to make some realistic resolutions, too. Especially in the grocery and lunch department. Waste not, want not. I hate throwing out spoiled foods.

Thank you for the motivation and the idea. Every day is a good day to make positive changes.

One day at a time.

Cheers,
sln

[mollyc]

I just love your blog. I write one too, but I am a rank amateur. My family is also the topic; there are just too many things that seem to happen to us that don't occur in other families! Like the time we all tried ear candles, or the cabin in the woods at Thanksgiving and the raw turkey, or when we had a bat in the front hall that swooped into the umbrella stand. Thank you for entertaining ME! Your children sound not only precocious, but they look adorable. MOLLY