Major Slacker Mom Day in Downtown Toronto

So we are really enjoying living in Mississauga Ontario.  There is so much to do and see I have been itching to get out.   I have really needed a hair cut but I've been feeling lost not knowing who to trust. There are about five salons on every corner in Mississauga but I decided to use the Living Social website to try to find a deal.  I finally found a place that was offering a discount but it was right downtown Toronto.  With Toronto being such a big place I have been a little intimidated to go too far from my bubble in Mississauga but I have really wanted to venture in and explore. I have heard nasty things about the traffic here but I felt with good planning and Google Maps I should be able to start exploring a bit while my kids were a school.  I bought the coupon and booked the appointment.  Well, what promised to be a fun day in the early morning turned out to be a real Slacker Mom experience by the end of the day.  I booked the appointment for 11:00, feeling that I would have enough time to make it downtown after dropping my kids off at school.  Things started out alright and I was well on my way in the morning when about halfway there I realized I only had 20 percent battery left on my phone. Not great but not horrible.  I felt I would make it to my appointment before my battery ran out.  Unfortunately my battery ran out just  as I reached city center.  I knew I was only a few blocks from my appointment so I decided to park the car, ask for directions and walk the rest of the way.  When I found someone to give me directions I discovered that I was actually about a 25 minute walk from the address of my appointment and it was already 10:50.  Needless to say I started walking as fast as I could.  It was a really neat walk.  I ended up going North on Yonge street which is the Toronto equivalent of New York's Time Square.  There were a lot of neat shops and interesting people bustling by.  Too bad I was in such a hurry.  The street I was looking for seemed to take forever to find and I was worried that I had gone too far.  I finally reached the right street and then I had to search a mall for the right salon which took another 15 minutes.  Thankfully the stylist at the salon agreed to take me in for the appointment even though I was forty five minutes late.  I could finally relax and enjoy getting my hair done.  It was just before  2:00 when I paid and left the salon.  My kids school gets out at 2:50.  It would take me about an hour to get back - so I thought, I knew I was cutting it close.  I didn't think the traffic could be bad yet, it wasn't even close to 3:00 yet.  I walked (or ran) the ten blocks or so to get to my car, got out the Parkade exit and realized I was going the opposite direction of where I new where to go.  I didn't have my Google Maps any more and I only new one way back, but I was going the wrong way on a one way street with no way of turning around.  I finally got going south and found the exit I needed to get onto the expressway.  As I arrived at the exit I heard on the radio that traffic was backed up on the expressway and that drivers should take an alternative route. I couldn't believe my situation.  Stuck in traffic, with half an hour left to get my kids, not knowing where I was going, no phone, no phone numbers and  - by the way- my husband was out of town so he would be no help.  I finally found the alternative route the radio announcer suggested and I got on it.  Traffic was not much better.  Cars were bumper to bumper, inching along the road.  I looked to my right and the expressway that was supposed to be backed up was moving along quite quickly and here I was in grid lock.  "Help."  All I could do was say a prayer that Heavenly Father would take care of my kids, point my car west, follow my nose and get home as fast as I could.  Well, three hours later I pulled into the parking lot at the school.  Frazzled, embarrassed, and emotional I broke through the doors of  the school.  Fortunately it was parent/teacher night so all the staff were still there.  Unfortunately it felt like they were all staring at me. First with a look of, "is this the parent" stares and then with, "where have you been" raised eyebrows. I started stammering, trying to explain what had happened and expressing my gratitude to them for taking care of my children.  The principle showed up and invited me into her office.  I immediately broke into tears. All the emotion came at once and I wished I had a good excuse like "my car had rolled in a terrible accident", rather than my lame,"I was stuck in traffic".  The principle was very kind and said that my children were alright.  The staff had fed them pizza and pop from the teachers lounge and they were all glad that I was alright.  I really love the staff at Sherwood Mills Elementary School. I tried to brush it off as me being a newcomer who had no idea how bad Toronto traffic could get. As soon as I my saw my kids I wrapped my arms around them and apologized for worrying them. They hardly noticed that I was late.  They were eating pizza and playing games on the school computers. They were glad I was safe and they were very forgiving.  My husband on the other had was a little silent on the phone when I finally called him to tell him what had happened.  While I was having an anxiety attack in traffic the school had called my husband when they couldn't get a hold of me.  He was in Dallas on business and wasn't much help other than to ask the school to let my thirteen year old daughter take the kids home with her. The principle didn't feel comfortable doing that without knowing what had happened to me. So all five of my children waited at the school.  I am just glad that the police and social services weren't there when I arrived.  That would have been a real mess. So, lesson learned? Don't go downtown Toronto when my phone is nearly dead, my husband is out of town and I don't have any contact numbers to get a hold of anyone. This was also an experience to demonstrate to me that there will be situations where things happen as a parent that I can not control. In hindsight, there are many things that I would have done differently but who would have thought it would all go so bad.  This is why a put a lot of faith in God.  I know I am not perfect and I well make many mistakes but I can depend on him to be there when I can't.  In the end everything turned out alright.  Yes, I was embarrassed and I had missed my parent/teacher conferences. But my children were safe, I was alright and social services weren't at my door.  Just another day of being a mom.

Slacker Mom moves to Ontario

There have been a lot of changes to our family.  It was about last June that Prince Charming phoned home while on a business trip to Toronto to suggest that it might be a good idea for our family to all move to Toronto.  He had been traveling here at least once a month for many months and we did not get to see him all that often.  We had talked about moving here before but weren't sure if it was the right thing for his business or our family.  He doesn't just travel to Toronto but all over Canada and sometimes to the US. I did not want to be living in a strange city with no family and no friends ..... and no husband.  So we put away the idea until last June it seemed to make more sense.   Most of his travel was to Toronto area so it seemed we would see him more if we moved here.  The plan is to live here for one year.  Prince Charming will  try to develop things with his business so that he doesn't have to travel so much when we return to Alberta, and we get to explore this part of the country.  I have been excited about this idea from day one.  I was looking for an adventure that our family could go on that would help us have some interesting experiences and draw closer as a family. We took some time to decide if this was right for us and tried not to tell any one - not even the kids - that we were thinking of going.  Once Prince Charming felt it was a good thing for his business to come here we then needed to see what we would do with our house while we were away.  Thankfully a wonderful family at our church were looking for a place for the next year.  They have three little kids and needed a good sized house close to school for not too much rent.   We wanted to not have to worry too much about what was going on  with our home and  our furniture while we were away enjoying our adventure in Ontario. I think we are happy on both sides.  Once these two decisions were made we new we were going and started telling friends and family.  One month later we took off.  We packed our clothes, some books, our digital piano and our computer in our van and our VW Golf and headed off.  Oh, our dog Hank got to fly here in a crate.  He was so excited to see us when he arrived.  The rest of us took the long route down through the States.

We drove straight to MT Rushmore and then through to Nauvoo Illinois and then to Chicago.

When we arrived we found that the house we rented was less than livable.  It smelled very bad, needed painting and cleaning throughout as well as new carpeting.  Other than doing a few touch ups the owner didn't seem to be planning on doing much more work on it.  Not having any other options we got to work cleaning and painting. We did work out a deal with the landlord to be compensated for our work and money but it was quite a disappointing start to our time in Toronto.  Once we had the place livable Prince Charming made many trips to IKEA buying the cheapest furniture possible to meet our basic needs for the year.  He has many blisters on his fingers from putting together 5 beds, 2 desks, a dining table and 8 chairs and a tv stand with a small allen key.  It has been a lot of work but we are now settled.  We miss everyone at home but have found lots of neat people and places to enjoy in Toronto.