A Corner Table in My World

For most of us, I think it’s safe to say we’ve resigned ourselves to the fact that everyone is spending more time watching TV than they were a few weeks ago. So why not make it a family activity AND mix in some little bits of fitness? These little spurts of activity won’t really be a workout workout, but they will get you all up off the couch here and there while you’re watching and, depending on the exercises you choose, will get your heart pumping. And yeah - this is totally something you could do just for yourself too! It’s really quite easy! All you have to do is:      1)     Pick a Show. Do you have a show, or shows, your family enjoys watching together?      2)     Sit down together and make a list of things that commonly or frequently happen, are said, or occur in the show .      3)     For each of the ‘occurrences’ above, pick an exercise or activity that you ca...

Online schooling starts this week from the kids’ schools. Princess had her first online class today. It sounded very interesting from the other room… at least there was a lot of talking and a lot of laughter. Which I’m going to assume are good things. Gamer Boy and Angel Face get back to things on Wednesday, with quick set up calls happening tomorrow with some of the teachers. Piano and singing lessons have already transitioned to online with Zoom , and through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube , and websites, dance classes are launching in earnest this week as well. And there are a number of online tours (zoo’s, museums, etc) that I’m looking forward to doing [you know, with the kids] over the next couple weeks too. What are some online tools you’ve already taken advantage of during your social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine time? What are some that you’re looking forward to taking advantage of in the coming weeks? Remember I promised some Corner Table Kitchen Adve...

The kids are home from school. Indefinitely. They likely won’t be back in the classroom (at school) until September. Gasp… Scream… Sigh. Boy, is their education about to take a weird turn. LOL. The Corner Table Trio (aka Princess, Gamer Boy and Angel Face) haven’t received their home study information from their teachers yet. But we live in a marvellous age of technology which allows the kids to keep learning – even when they don’t really realize that’s what they’re doing. Being home all day with (basically) nowhere to go and not a lot to do, we’re giving them responsibilities they’ve never fully been given before,  and what supervision is required for these new tasks . And for the most part, I think, we’re just like everyone else, in that we are trying to stay as positive as we can during this time. Here are three things that we’ve already begun doing  at the Corner Table House: 1.   Everybody Cooks We’ve encouraged the kids to take Foods class...

Uncertain times. Strange days. Weird, weird happenings. Here in Alberta we are still in the early days of this global pandemic. The numbers of infected in our province are still relatively low, comparatively, and in my personal area we’ve had only a few confirmed cases. We’re all preparing for worse days – some more ridiculously than others, but I know none of us can truly comprehend what’s coming. Reading articles, letters, and blogs from people who are already further along the pandemic timeline (places like China, Italy, Spain, etc) give us an idea of what to expect. But it’s not the same. And none of us will truly understand what those people have gone through until we too are going through it. Which is scary. Nay, it’s (slightly) terrifying. It’s scary and terrifying because it’s so incomprehensible. It’s so completely unknown. And then add in the various ways so many of our lives have been turned upside down, and that just magnifies the fear. The unce...

Three weeks ago the kids went back to school and this year saw a big change for us. I picked their school very deliberately years ago. You see, Heli Dad and I both grew up in small towns - I attended the same school from kindergarten through high school graduation, he was at the same school until grade ten. We wanted that kind of learning community for our own kids and we are extremely lucky that we found that in a school very close to our home. We've been fortunate that our kids are able to attend their school right from preschool through grade nine.  This September, Princess started grade 10.  New school, new people... It's been a big adjustment for us all.  And boy, high school.   I don't think it's really even necessary for me to say more than that, is it? I have so many really great memories of high school, but I've got my share of bad ones too. And while so many things have changed in our society and in our culture, so many of the quintessential hig...

We’re not strangers with Death, not in this house. Over the years we’ve lost family, acquaintances, and friends. And still, every loss hurts as though it’s the first one. Every loss leaves a mark on our hearts. It can’t be denied however that some losses hurt a bit more than others. Some leave marks that will never fade. That’s where we are this week. This past Saturday our friend finally succumbed to the cancer that had mercilessly eaten its way through his body. I mentioned him in my post about World Cancer Day in February. Just 18-months after receiving his initial cancer diagnosis, he lost. Despite fighting like hell, he lost. Thirty-six years old, and now gone forever. He has left behind a wife, whose heart has been breaking a little more every day for months, as she’s watched the essence of the man she fell in love with fade away. He’s left behind a daughter who will be celebrating her 2 nd birthday in less than two weeks. A daughter ...

February 4th has never really been a date with ominous undertones in our home but a series of (truly) unfortunate circumstances through the years has made it an increasingly important one to mention, to acknowledge, and in our way observe. All of you should know that February 4th is considered “World Cancer Day.” Or you should know, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade or so. It’s an internationally observed day intended to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage it’s prevention, detection, and treatment. (source: Wikipedia )  In this day and age practically every person has, in some way, been affected by cancer. Honestly, I think it’s probably a pretty rare thing nowadays that a person wouldn’t know someone who has had cancer, or someone who knows someone who has. We definitely don’t need six-degrees of separation to find a link.  Here in the Corner Table House cancer is a disease that we’ve become increasingly familiar with. Both Heli D...

To many people it will have seemed as though the Corner Table Family simply disappeared off the face of the planet in 2018. At least so far as our blog presence suggests anyways. You’ll have seen us online if we’re connected on Facebook, and if we’re connected IRL you’ll know that though we’ve been quieter, we are alive and kicking. 2017 was, to be blunt, a killer year for us. It was full of extreme highs: Little Sister’s wedding, Little Prince’s arrival, and Baby Bee’s birth to name a few. But it was highlighted by a number of extreme lows. Little Prince’s Spring birth and the fear and uncertainty that clung to us like living shadows for months after. Grandpa’s accident on the farm last fall and the outright terror we experienced during the days immediately following. Auntie Ell’s declining health throughout the year, and her eventual death in December. Then just before Christmas the foundation of our world here in the Corner Table House was rocked to the cor...