Instead of my monthly First Friday Favourites, today’s post will be devoted to a recap of the past month. April flew by and – like most of the Aprils for the past twelve years – has been mostly devoted to multiple birthday celebrations and doing our taxes. At least, that’s what I remember from the month. There were a lot of family get-togethers, feasting on yummy food and fun times, made easier with the nicer weather.
We started the month off with Brighton’s 9th birthday on April 1st! Since it was a school day, we kept the celebration to just our family of five and went to play mini golf here. Unfortunately, the man at the desk was obviously not having a great day. All the other times we had gone to play we were never given a time limit, but for some reason he said we’d only get twenty minutes to play. I told him we might take a bit longer and he said that was fine. But since there were five of us and there were no other people rushing us, we took about twice as long and only got to the 10th or 11th hole. Giving us twenty minutes to complete an 18 hole course with five people is ridiculous, thinking back on it! There was a sign that said you had to be done playing a half hour before the mall closed but the mall was still open for over an hour! The man was just being a DICK!
Instead of making a big stink about it though, we came home and enjoyed homemade cupcakes, homemade pizza and Minecraft presents, all requested by the birthday boy.
At the end of the week, we went to the premiere of the Minecraft movie.
Now, although all of our kids have been enamoured with Minecraft for a number of years, I have not found the same enthusiasm for it. You could say I was not exactly excited to go watch it. But, when expectations are low, usually the outcome will be better. Plus, we were going with my sister’s family, so it was a fun outing together. It was also interesting to see and experience just how many other kids and even adults are into Minecraft. I think a future post diving deeper into this is a must.
The day after the movie, we had another birthday celebration at our house for Brighton, this time with my sister’s family and our parents.
The following week, our kitty boys turned one, but we did not go crazy with a birthday bash. We did sing them “Happy Birthday” and gave each of them a little dish of treats, Cookie included.
Then it was Easter weekend and more indulging in delicious food with family. And the kids were off school for a week as here in Saskatoon, they get multiple breaks every few months.
Cookie had been adopted earlier in the month but got to stay with us until after Easter. She was picked up on Blythe’s 12th birthday, which made it a bittersweet day. But since we had something different than usual planned this year, it took the sting out of the bite.
As something totally different, we went to this mall for a birthday scavenger hunt. Blythe had originally asked to go to an Escape Room for her birthday but Whitney had already gone to one here and said it wasn’t great. I didn’t want to shell out a few hundred dollars on something that wasn’t that worthwhile, so instead suggested our own little adventure at the mall.
Blythe came up with the list of things to find and then we split up into teams – girls vs. boys – and were off. Whoever was first to finish would be declared the winner, the prize being lunch at the food court. Of course we all would get to eat, and we actually finished almost at the same time. Rather than buying the items, we just needed to snap photos of them, which made it funner than having to spend money on it all.
On the Saturday of Easter weekend, the girls and I went shopping at H&M (above) for some new clothes for Blythe – part of my birthday gift to her – and she wore some of those clothes on her birthday. I knew that if Matt and Brighton had to endure clothes shopping with us, it would not have been an enjoyable birthday experience. Matt was also under the weather that day but was a trooper and made it through the few hours we were at the mall.
After the scavenger hunt, we came home and Matt and I helped Blythe bake a red velvet cake, one of her requests. She decorated the cake and table herself (with some help icing it)
A few days later, we had the whole gang over again for another birthday celebration for Blythe. This time Blythe wanted a vanilla cake.
The weather has finally started warming up and there were several rounds of croquet played that day, along with other games even after the sun set.
Finally, the next day is when I sat down to start our taxes.
I always mean to start doing our taxes sooner, but I think like most people, who really wants to tackle taxes when there’s other better ways to spend your time? I DID manage to finish them with a day or two to spare though, and then filed them online, like I have been doing for the past several years.
Other things the kept me busy included working for this fine company and prepping for my first art show in over a decade. This year, one of my goals was to get into local art and craft shows and I have my first one in just over a week’s time. Not only will it be my first in nearly eleven years, it will be the very first time I try selling my goods here in Saskatoon. In all the years growing up here, I never tried my hand at selling my creations in this city, except to maybe my own family. I only spent about seven years of my childhood (from ages 11-18) here and wasn’t very entrepreneurial back then. And not to mention, back then Etsy was non-existent as well selling online.
I also made a realization recently that in all my years selling on Etsy, I don’t think I’ve ever sold anything to anyone in Saskatoon. So it will be interesting to see how people respond to my creations.
Since Trump first announced the tariffs, I have made a handful of sales on Etsy. Since “Liberation Day” on April 2, I have made ZERO sales. Mind you, my sales on Etsy over the past ten years have been slow, but at the start of this year, I seemed to be doing a lot better than other years. So I’m not sure if it has to do with the tariffs or it’s just that people are not interested in my stuff. I know that it’s generally not a great time to be spending money on unnecessary things, but I still see lots of people shopping when I’m out. Parking lots are usually full here and there aren’t even that many people in Saskatoon.
So who knows? And well, if my shows flop, at least I put myself out there. Matt says at least if I learn something from them, then that’s a win. I’ll be back next week with more sneak peeks of my art market(s) preparation.
Happy weekend to you wherever you are!
