Oh, March! It's a Pinch!

Yes, we've come to that time of year again when the generous Christmas donations run out and most people (understandably so) aren't feeling the desire yet to extend their generosity to us once more. It's an adventurous time, to put it positively. Lauren and I get really good at tightening the belt and using all of those funny odds and ends in the kitchen that would otherwise be forsaken to an eternity on the shelf or in the back of the cupboard. We're thankful for the surplus which has now become essential and for the chance to be more efficient; it's nice to feel a lot of gratitude for small joys and be more focused on day-to-day life.

On the other hand, it is still very much winter in Montreal, although March is upon us, and it will continue to be winter for another month! Uggh! When you don't have much money and it's too cold to stay outside for long, you have to use your creativity and imagination to pass the hours with two youngsters on your hands. On top of that, Dennis has had some sort of strange illness for the last week that has appeared, disappeared, and reappeared several times. Is it a cold, a fever, an ear infection, a toothache, a combination of these? We've made all these guesses. He slept good last night, however, and we're hoping we're out of the woods. Our sweet little Nell is developing opinions, which is exciting, but can be quite tiring as well, especially when her opinions have to do with sleep. She also likes to smile a lot and converse with us through her beautiful cooing, so a little extra wakey time isn't so bad after all.

All in all, we're hanging in there, hoping our financial resources increase over the next few months and giving a lot of time and thought to our future plans. I'll stop here, and save some steam for the next post...à bientôt!