It's 2016!

Today Ashley told me she wrote a blog post which got me thinking; how long has it been since I've been on my own blog? After taking a look I was shocked to see that it has indeed been almost 3 years since I've been on here.  Now, there is a fairly good explanation for this.  My spurt of activity in 2013 was largely a result of the fact that I was unemployed and had a large amount of free time on my hands.  I think my last post roughly corresponded to when I was accepted onto the Grand Erie School Board supply list which let me get back to work.  Since then, I got a job as a teacher out in Alberta and have been there for the last 2 and a half years.  A lot has happened since then.

1. Ashley and I finally set a date to get married in Vegas, which we will do in March this year.

2. We bought a house!

3. We have finally reached a very homeostatic stage in our lives.  Everything is good.

I mean, the small things get you down, and stupid people piss you off, but that pretty much describes life in general.  I have to say that overall, I'm the happiest I've ever been.

The best part about moving away is the clarity of who is really important to you.  I'm quite thankful that I have some amazing friends back in Ontario who I still remain close with regardless of being over 3000 km away from them.  It has also been handy to be able to separate myself from less desirable people whom I would normally see or talk to.  Like Martha Stewart says, it's a good thing.

Now, life hasn't been all sunshine and lollipops.  We recently lost a valued family member, which was actually quite difficult for all of us to cope with.  Diesel was a dog, a great dog, and an amazing friend.  He was raised from a pup by Mom, Dad, Noelle, and I, and he always had a special place in our hearts.  I know he was old, and 12 years is actually quite a long life for a Rottweiler.  I have to say that I'm actually somewhat fortunate in that I never had to witness his slowly deteriorating health.  For me, I always remember him as the exuberant puppy that always wanted to play and run.  RIP buddy, I'll miss ya.

I can't end on such a depressing note, so let me also go on to mention that I have finally gotten myself to a (somewhat) steady state for work.  I've managed to balance planning, marking, exercise, and everything else to a certain degree, so I will endeavour to get back to posting on here again. I'm totally off the gluten free kick, and I'm back to good ol fashion cooking, so get ready for some good recipes.  I promise I won't actually post anything that I haven't tried to make myself. ;)