Who Owns the Podium?

Every time I turn on the radio or TV I hear about "Team Canada".  Despite the fact Canada has many Olympic teams in various relays, curling and hockey, "Team Canada" is used exclusively for the men's hockey team.  The media broadcasts all of our men's hockey practices and games, sometimes ignoring other events to do so.   I also hear all about "own the podium".   Something else I have noticed and I have not heard any media coverage about at all is that our women are outstanding.  Women have won 11 of our current 15 medals!  Has anybody else noticed this?  Our female athletes are incredible!  They are so strong - physically and emotionally.  I am thinking of Joannie Rochette who skated 2 days after her mother's death.  Maybe we should change our focus for the next Olympics.  Find out what our women are doing right and pass it on to the men.

And I want to salute Petra Majdic too.  This amazing Slovenian woman skiied with 4 broken ribs and a collapsed lung and earned a bronze medal.  I think that she should have been given an honorary gold.  Every breath and movement would have been agony.  I dislocated one rib two years ago and I couldn't shovel the driveway, walk the dogs or even use a dustpan.

disclaimer - I am not extremely knowledgeable about sports and I apologize for any generalizations or ignorance.  This is not meant in any way to belittle the performances of our male medal winners.  Neither am I a feminist - these are just my casual observances.

Halfway

We are roughly halfway through Kevin's "deployment" to Vancouver.  The exact date of his return has not been confirmed.  He celebrated this milestone by having an emergency root canal today.

The biggest problem we have had at home is with smoke detectors.  The batteries were not changed in the fall when they should have been so that was part of the problem.  I have replaced most of them now and vacuumed them.  Several times the detectors have had full alarms.  This usually occurs in the wee hours of the morning prompting me to walk around the whole house and make sure nothing is really on fire.   One night two separate detectors went within 15 minutes of each other - but there was no fire.  A few of the detectors with new batteries are still chirping occasionally so the whole unit will be replaced when he returns.  Usually it is our carbon monoxide detectors, not our smoke detectors that have problems.  It is scarier with CO because you can't see it.  Anyway I am not complaining.  We haven't had a flood, breakdown, illness or any other crisis.  I have only had to shovel snow 3 or 4 times and it has only been a few inches, not feet as often happens here. 

Things I have observed during his absence:

I run out of socks before I need to do laundry (not that he is dirty, just that 2 of us don't produce enough to fill a front loader).

I am doing very little grocery shopping.  Again, not that he eats a lot, just it is so much easier to feed two - especially when one of them is at work half of the nights.  And I have very few dishes to wash.

It is very boring eating alone so often.

There is nothing worth watching on tv most nights.

Toilet paper lasts way longer.

We are saving a lot of money on gas and vehicle insurance (I took his SUV off the road while he is gone).

I enjoy sleeping on a bed where the mattress is level (remember we had the memory foam folded in half so there was a cliff in the centre of our bed).

Room with a View?

As most people know my husband is in Vancouver for 6 weeks assisting with security for the Olympics.  Whenever we go away (which isn't very often) I get excited because we can stay in a hotel.  He doesn't share my excitement because he gets to fly and stay in hotels lots.  This time he isn't staying in a hotel.  Can you guess where he is sleeping?

 Because there is a shortage of accommodations some of the personnel are being put up in 3 cruise ships. I thought this time he'd be more excited as we have never been on a cruise.  He wasn't.  Transportation is a hassle and very time consuming.  The hours are long and access to internet and phones difficult.  The rooms are smaller than a hotel room and these guys travel with lots and lots of gear.  You can push the beds together to make a queen but that gives you even less floor space so some of the guys just use one bed for sleeping and one for storage.  But look at the view!  Doesn't that make up for the other problems?

That lovely wall was his view for the first two weeks.  Yesterday they took a little trip to a new berth.  Now he gets to see this: 

Now he's excited.  Right, honey?

He's Gone

I just got back from dropping Kevin at the base.  At 3 am he will take a bus to Trenton then fly to Abbotsford and spend the next 6 weeks in Vancouver assisting the RCMP with security for the Olympics. My family knows that I hate driving at night (because of poor night vision) and driving in winter (3 slides off various roads years ago) so the fact that I was driving at midnight is an achievement in itself.  I am very grateful that God provided dry roads, clear skies and peace for my trip.

Kevin has been away a lot over the years. Once we figured out that we actually only lived together for 13 of the first 36 months of marriage. When we lived in Alberta the 2nd time he was gone as often as he was home. I got used to the absences easily and never stayed at home moping or whining. I handled every challenge that arose.  However it has been years since he has been so far away, gone more than a week and never so long in the winter so I am a little apprehensive. It doesn't matter as much if your furnace or car breaks down in the summer. I am very glad he will get to see Caitlin while he is there.

Anyway some things will be different here for the next while and I thought I would highlight a few:

- I get to control the remotes! (if I can figure out the new ones)

- I have to drive Connor everywhere

- I have to make my own tea at night - and lock the doors

- I get a normal bed (this one needs a little explaining - we need a new mattress and in an effort to stall that big purchase we bought a memory foam pad - I like it but Kevin didn't so it is folded over onto my side - that means there is a big drop in the middle of the bed - it is easy to fall down onto his half and it looks retarded - now I can unfold it and spread out)

- I get to worry about floods and sump pump failure, snow shovelling and all those other fun things

- I get a clean house (and bathroom)

and that's all I can think of at this hour.  I am not a night person.