Halloween, IKEA, US Election

Halloween

Sarah has reported that she had her best Halloween ever. I'm not sure what made it so fabulous, other than the contrast with her time in England, where the holiday is not really observed much. She reprized her skeleton costume from a few years ago and was a big hit at school. She hung out with a friend from upstairs for a bit in the afternoon and then I took her out to trick or treat after dinner. It had been raining all day, but there was a break during the early evening which worked well. The other thing that worked well is that Sarah does not like candy with nuts or peanut butter, so Mike has been the recipient of the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and I get the Snickers and Mars Bars. It was a nice night and I again appreciated the basic friendliness of Canadians.

IKEA

Yesterday Sarah and I went on an epic shopping excursion to our local IKEA to purchase the linens, curtains, lamps and rugs for our new home, plus stuff like coat and shoe racks, mirrors and the other miscellaneous stuff needed. We still have a big order of furniture to come. I had hoped to be in a position to get furniture that does not require the use of an allen wrench to assemble, but this is not my reality. Fortunately, Mike is a competent assembler of flat pack furniture.

It was a big undertaking as we filled 4 large grocery carts plus one trolley. Sarah was a trooper, helping with the carts throughout the trip. We called a minivan cab and Mike met us at the house to unload and schlep everything into the house. Then, we spent the afternoon assembling the bases for my desk (Sarah and Mike did this - Sarah enjoyed hammering in the dowels the most) and putting together all of the lamps etc. It was a long day and we were all pretty tired by the time we walked down the hill to our apartment, stopping for a pizza dinner at our local Italian place on the way. I went to bed very early and slept long and well.

I am really looking forward to making a home again. We always felt very temporary in England, even using a couple of our moving boxes as tables. The house was very nice and our landlord was lovely, but the furniture and curtains were not what we would have chosen, and, at least for me, it never really felt like home. I am excited to hang our pictures - we have brought back some art and antique maps from Europe, as well as our photographs of our travels, and I'll be getting these framed and hung up once we get our furniture organized. I have no school at all during the month of December, so I have lots of time to get the house sorted and to enjoy the holidays.

It has been a lot of fun to pick out lamps, linens, curtains, etc. I think we will be very cozy in our new place. We have a fold out sofa and an extra full-size futon bed, so there is lots of space for visitors.

Elections

I have been more than a little bit obsessed with the US election. Although we have had a recent national election in Canada, and provincial elections as well, we can't vote here and haven't been here long enough to feel passionate about any of the candidates. I think everyone who reads this blog will be aware of my political leanings to the left - not unusual for a social worker - and I am first and foremost relieved that we will soon be seeing the last of Bush. I do not think that his secretive, combative and anti-intellectual style has been a good thing for the country or for the presidency. (I for one would be happy to have a president who is smarter and better informed than myelf and Bush was sadly deficient in this respect - as would be Sarah Palin.)

I think one reason that Obama has done so well, aside from the economic crisis, is that there is a sense that the Bush presidency pushed the country too far in a particular direction - any move to the left can perhaps be seen as an attempt to move the Federal government back towards the centre.

Anyway, I won't rant at length, but I don't know what I'll do once the election is over and I am no longer obsessively surfing CNN, Politico, the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post, and (even though I hold my nose to do it) Fox News.

Well that's my post for the day. Hope all is well with our friends and family. We invite you all to plan a trip to Vancouver sometime soon - we'd love to welcome you to our new home!

Love,
Margo