A Few of My Favourite Things

IKEA how do I love thee?

2012-01-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

Let me count the ways.

I finally made it to Canada's newest and biggest IKEA.

What did I find?

Well-designed consoles

Gleaming white kitchens

Peninsula ideas that might just work at my house

Amazing PAX wardrobes, completely outfitted.

Fabrics with gorgeous colourways

Affordable and fashionable side tables.

Modern, white sideboards

Sleek chairs

A desk I have been coveting for years

A potential solution for our downstairs music studio

The open spaces at IKEA alone were huge. Enormous. Gigantic.
The cafeteria looked amazing.
The room settings were nice, but I didn't have much time in them.

Mr. Boy was sad to discover that he is too tall to go into the famous IKEA ballroom, but was assuaged when he found out he is big enough to go on the adult zip line course that DH and I went to during the summer. The girls enjoyed the ball room, but they could only stay one hour, which was barely enough time for me to walk double-time through the room settings and through the marketplace.

I'm looking forward to many more visits to IKEA, hopefully to pick up some if not all of the items I picked out on my visit.

The Sonos is So Nice

2012-01-09T18:07:00.000-08:00

We got a new Sonos Play 5 for Christmas and it is so amazing. We have a nice stereo down in the basement and now we have a way to play music upstairs.

We plugged the Sonos into the living room and using the iPod touch, we can access internet radio, anything we have on iTunes, and anything on Rdio.

I love being able to pull up any song I want and the sound is really good. And you know the best part? DH loves is even more than I do.

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

2011-12-31T14:19:00.000-08:00

It's new year's eve. I can hardly believe it is almost 2012.

I visited a friend this morning, then had lunch and a nice, long nap.

We took the dead Christmas tree out the front door and I'm sure I didn't miss a single needle with the vacuum cleaner.

I'm on day 6 of a refined sugar fast and I'm feeling just a teensy bit irritable.

We're heading to the neighbours' house for a party tonight and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm making a smoked salmon, cream cheese, and fresh dill appetizer and I hope it will be both pretty and delicious.

But the best thing I did today was take Santa hat photos of the kids. The last time I did this, I only had two kids, so it was about 6 or 7 years ago. I had taken photos of the older two kids and have them in a photo tray, proudly displayed in the living room. Every so often, when I see the tray, I think I ought to update the photos and at least include all of my children.

I was planning to take a photo of the three of them in their matching santa hats, but 3 of our four santa hats went missing over the last month. Darn it all to heck. I was annoyed at the lack of matching hats and figured the whole photo idea was a bust, and I'm just a teensy bit irritable these days (see sugar fasting, above) until DH suggested I take a photo of each kid individually. Eureka!

I got Mr. Boy first, who felt that his 'mere existence' should be sufficient and I shouldn't need to take photos of him. I told him that it really hurt to give birth to him and he owed me one. I guess I was convincing because he put on the Santa hat and the white shirt I had laid out. Not getting carried away, he only did up the top two buttons, since the rest of the shirt wouldn't be visible in the photo. He was a sport once it was time to take the actual photos and he did pose for me. There were some silly ones and some that were just plain cute.

Sweet Pea loves having her photo taken. She did some really cute poses. It was hard to pick the best one, but this one seemed the most natural.

Precious is always a challenge to photograph because she has a hard time smiling, and I like this one because it's cute and it suits her personality perfectly. She's got a bit of attitude and her walk has been described by many as a 'strut'. I think that comes through in this photo.

Now I can get some 4X6s of these photos printed and I can finally update the photo tray. Yahoo!

A Wonderful Christmas

2011-12-29T18:59:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

We had a nice visit with my cousin, aunt and uncle on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, we opened presents with the kids. There was even enough snow to consider it a white Christmas. They were so happy with their gifts, and they were sweet and grateful.

Later on Christmas day, we had a nice brunch at my mom's. Around noon, we came home and put the turkey in the oven. There were 29 of us for supper. Everyone brought a dish and we provided the turkey and dressing.

DH did all of the cooking that day, so I did the dishes.

Sweet Pea's 8th Birthday Party

2011-12-19T16:53:00.000-08:00

We had 7 guests for Sweet Pea's 8th birthday party on Saturday. We didn't have a specific theme, except for 'old school' party games, an excellent suggestion by my cousin Kim. I used some books from the library to figure out which games to choose. We played speed beads, speed stacks, and wobbly waitress, and had a treasure hunt. We also decorated gingerbread cookies. We played a rousing game of 'don't let the balloon drop'.

Decorations


Icing

Decorating cookies

Speed Stacks


Speed Stacks

Speed Beads


Opening presents

Turning 8


My three kids

The girls got a copy of the book The Tale of Desperaux as part of their loot bag, along with some chocolate.

O Tannenbaum

2011-12-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

We were waiting until it snowed to get our tree at the tree farm this year. With its horse-drawn sleigh, toboggan hills, and rustic atmosphere, it was definitely a trip we were looking forward to enjoying with a thick layer of snow on the ground. Since we needed the tree before Sweet Pea's birthday, since she loves having it for her party, and we had no time to go to a tree lot to buy a pre-cut tree, I had to buy our tree from the local grocery store. I really didn't want to because the last time I did that, the tree was so dry and the needles were everywhere. I figured that this time, having learned that making a fresh cut on the tree makes a huge difference, the needles would be manageable, and we'd only have the tree up for a short time since we got it so late.

As I stood in the parking lot of the grocery store, looking at the trees, the one I picked looked nice and tall and nice and thick. The trees were supposedly between 6.5 and 9 feet tall, but when I got the tree home, and DH cut about 8 inches off the trunk, it was still too tall to fit in our house with its 8 foot ceilings. The tree stand adds about 2 inches.

All in all, it is the perfect size since it isn't too wide and it is nice and tall.

We set up the tree on Wednesday night, and cut the netting around it. It feel into its real shape after a few hours. On Thursday night, before the kids got home from daycare, I put up the lights and all of the glass ornaments. After Mr. Boy's piano, the kids hung all of the metal, wood and plastic (i.e. unbreakable) decorations.

I know the photography doesn't do it justice, but with the lights dimmed and Christmas music playing, this is the most beautiful tree in the world. And does it ever smell good.

It makes me not even mind the needles as much.

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

2011-12-14T22:32:00.000-08:00

No snow in the forecast, none on the ground, and 9 degrees above freezing tomorrow, and it is looking more and more like it will be a green Christmas. I can count on one hand the number of times we have had a green Christmas in my lifetime.

Snow would also be nice to give us the Christmas spirit and to give us an activity to do at Sweet Pea's birthday party this Saturday. On the other hand, the girls outgrew their snow pants and the only place I could find their size with bibs was out of stock and not getting any more until January 7th. Maybe the snow will hold off until their new pants come in?

Despite the lack of snow, I am decorating for Christmas and doing all of the normal December activities. When it comes to driving, or trying to park my car in a parking lot where all of the lines are covered with snow, the current lack of snow is quite convenient, but the ambiance is definitely lacking.

That doesn't stop us from lighting our Christmas lights every night and from putting up our Christmas tree. Here's a rather blurry photo of our Christmas lights which are just a straight line of white lights across the front of our house, just the way I like it. In the photo, there is a light dusting of snow, which has since melted.

I suppose people who live in warm climates never have snow and it still feels like Christmas, but we Canadians, especially where I live, really rely on the changing of the seasons. Warm sweaters and mittens mean fall and back to school. Rubber boots, mud and rain signals spring. Warm, humid temperatures and tank tops mean summer, and winter means snow.

You could get technical on me and tell me that winter doesn't start until next week, but every Ottawan I know will tell you that winter starts on the first of December and goes to March 31st.

Watery globes full of fake snow

2011-12-09T15:55:00.001-08:00

I know snow globes are full of fake snow, but that doesn't make them any less magical. I have a bit of an obsession with snow globes, and they are in all their glory (and availability) at this time of year. Even so, they aren't easy to find.

I saw a lovely snow globe at Home Sense the other day and snapped it up.

I used to have quite a few snow globes, but over time, they inevitably lose their water, or get broken, so I'm down to three Christmas globes, one with only 3/4 of its water, and DH has a Harley Davidson snow globe. I also picked a Hallowe'en 'snow' globe this year but I only have the three Christmas, and one motorcycle snow globe currently displayed on our mantle.

I'd love to order this owl globe from West Elm, but it's sold out.

There's also this moose globe from Indigo, but since I already bought a globe this year, this one will have to wait until next year.

My ultimate fantasy snow globe? One that contains a miniature replica of my house, lot, cars, and family on a wintry day.

I got Jess glasses!

2011-12-07T19:07:00.001-08:00

I wanted to get new glasses. I am enamoured with the look of Zooey Deschanel in her new show, New Girl. Her glasses are so cool, that there is even a link from the Fox website of where to buy them. I didn't end up with the exact pair she has, but read on anyway.

I had my eye checkup yesterday with my new optometrist. DH recommended him, and he was really good. When I was leaving his office, the optometrist asked me if I would consider shopping in his glasses shop. I had tried on a pair while I was waiting for my appointment, but Sweet Pea said she didn't like them that much. After my appointment I tried them on again. They are so huge compared to what I'm used to, and they're black, which is a change for me.

I bought them after trying on these and one other pair, and they had an in-house technician prepare them in under 15 minutes, which is a good thing because Mr. Boy and Sweet Pea were with me, and Mr. Boy was getting a little impatient.

I wanted to check with DH to see if he liked the frames, but the quality of the photos I was sending him on my Blackberry were terrible, and the sample glasses have these ugly, scratched, plastic lenses in them.

Here I am with my new glasses.

After I got home, it took DH about 10 minutes to get used to my new glasses, and now he loves them as much as I do.

Those of you who know me will also notice that I got a new haircut. I used Mel's hairstylist. I walked in to Jodie's salon and asked her what she would do with my hair if I gave her carte blanche and this is what I got. I think a chin length bob was just the right thing for me and I love my new style.

I Love Me Some Young House Love

2011-12-05T07:53:00.000-08:00

John and Sherry are professional bloggers and writers who have a book coming out. Their blog, Young House Love is incredible and so inspiring.

They are currently re-doing their kitchen, keeping some elements, moving some, re-painting some. I would give anything for the vision they have. Their kitchen is going to be amazing, and I find myself going to their blog, eagerly waiting for the next thing; demolition, re-painting, counters. Oh, where are the new counters! I hope they come this week. I can't wait to see how they'll look.

Going to John and Sherry's blog is like watching one of those 30 minute home makeover shows, but it seems more realistic, John and Sherry come across as authentic people, and they are always looking at ways to save money, making their makeovers seem all the more amazing because they actually have a budget.

I don't know about you, but after reading their blog, I find myself looking for opportunities to re-decorate my own house. Isn't there an alcove I could turn into a reading nook, or a wall that could come down? If I could get around to re-painting my front hall, I'd be lucky, so I have to live vicariously through them.

Christmas Countdown 2011

2011-12-04T11:01:00.001-08:00

I know that Christmas is on December 25th every year, yet it seems to sneak up on me every time. Last time I checked, it was back to school. How did Christmas get to be only three weeks away?

I still have Sweet Pea's birthday party to plan and host on the 17th, but that doesn't stop me from having a huge list of things I want to accomplish before Christmas.

Accomplished
Ordered rentals for the big (about 35 people) Christmas supper we're hosting.
Decorated the house.
Scheduled Christmas photo and chose outfits.
Scheduled pre-photo haircuts for those that need it.
Bought some gifts
Bought a Christmas CD - Michael Bublé's Christmas
Hang Christmas lights outside

Still to accomplish
Go to the tree farm, get a tree and decorate it.
Finish buying gifts and wrap.
Get a turkey and other food for Christmas day.
Borrow linens for the rental tables.
Get the kids practicing their Christmas carols on the piano.
Practice one on the guitar?

Baking?
Get gift certificates for the teachers and write cards for them.

I had hoped to get the tree today, but there's merely a dusting of snow on the ground, and I thought it just wouldn't be the same if we didn't have some snow.

Some things will have to slide this year. I won't be sending Christmas cards, or doing any craft projects. Let's face it, the baking isn't going to happen, either. Good thing, too, since I can't resist the sweets and it's best not to have any around.

I often get the urge to entertain at this time of year, but there's never enough time. I'll be attending a few Christmas lunches, and one after work event that goes from 4 to 6. I always swear I entertain in January, but everyone is burned out and it never seems to happen. It'll be worse this year with coaching hockey taking up so much of our time, and our family vacation taking place in January. More on that in a future post.

Princess and the Frog Birthday Party Ideas

2011-12-03T18:00:00.001-08:00

I saw these adorable frog 'piggy' banks at the store one day when I was picking up the car from the garage and was close to a Winners store. I knew I liked them, but didn't have a good excuse to buy one. That night, I thought that with Precious' 6th birthday coming up, a Princess and the Frog party would be the ideal reason to buy the banks. I could use them as the 'loot' for the loot bags.

Since I was dropping the other car off at the garage the next day, I stopped in at Winners again to see if the frogs were still there, and there were three! One was green, one was blue and one was silver. I bought them all, as Precious only had two friends coming so far, and noticed that the colour scheme of the Disney movie with the same name was blue, green and lavender, so the colour scheme for the party was born!

I ordered balloons in blue, green and lavender with a silver table weight. The girls and I made a banner with Happy 6th Birthday Precious in the same colours, with blue ribbon. We got a Pin the Kiss on the Frog game. I planned to make lily pad place mats, but couldn't find the right colour of felt or foam.

The girls showed up wearing their princess costumes and each of them was presented with a crown.

Pin the Kiss on the Frog

We decorated frames and I had planned to take a photo of the guest of honour with each of her friends to put in the frame, but they weren't necessarily that cooperative so it didn't work out that well. The girls will have to choose a photo of their own to put in their frames.

Precious opened her gifts after our pizza supper, then we had cake and ice cream.

I had been at the rink for much of the day and the cake was being made at the 11th hour. I had baked it and had make cupcakes, but I hadn't iced it and I hadn't banked on all the crumbs that would be created around the edges of the legs which were cut from a separate cake. I was getting a bit frazzled trying to cover up the spaces between the cupcake eyes, the cut pieces for the legs, and the body of the cake. Luckily I had lots of icing and was able cover it up and it definitely looked like a frog.

We even had a real frog a the party! Only Precious kissed him on the cheek. Thank goodness DH was Kermit for Hallowe'en this year and who knew he'd get a chance to use his costume again so soon!

Who's That Girl?

2011-11-29T22:21:00.001-08:00

I am so loving the new show New Girl. Makes me laugh every time. Zooey Deschanel's character, Jess is hilarious, and Zooey is an amazing actress. I follow her on Twitter and she is adorable. @ZooeyDeschanel.

I even want Jess glasses.

As I may mentioned before, I buy a new Christmas CD every year, and I'm listening to Zooey sing The Christmas Waltz with She & Him right now to decide if their CD is a contender. It is pretty cute, but what do you think? Have you heard it, or do you have any other Christmas CD recommendations for me?

Cat on a Hot Computer

2011-11-28T18:40:00.001-08:00

Our cat Lexi is a bit on the small side. Like under 6 pounds, on the small side. She's really cold all winter. She can't warm up. She heads straight to the furnace vents when she gets up. When I make the mistake of leaving my computer open, she heads straight there to get warm.

Last week, Lexi went outside on Tuesday night and didn't come home. Not on Wednesday. Not on Thursday. I figure someone found her pawing at their window and let her in. They were probably worried about her because she's so skinny, it had snowed, she doesn't have a collar, and she had a hurt paw at the time. The may have thought she's an undernourished stray.

We've tried to put a collar on her, and we've been through about 5 in 2 and a half years and we've been through 3 personalized tags, at $15 each, but she keeps managing to lose them.

When she went missing, I contacted the humane society and they said they would look for her and also advised me to contact the city in case she had been found dead. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach for days.

On Friday night, in the middle of Precious' family birthday party, Lexi showed up and started pawing the window to be let in. I was so happy to see her that I started crying. It was like a big weight was lifted off my chest.

I swore I would never let her out of my sight again. As long as I leave my computer open, I should know where to find her.

A Winter Wonderland

2011-11-27T18:14:00.001-08:00

We had a bit of snow last week. We're used to snow around here, but it had been pretty warm this November.

There was a bit of a mad scramble the night before the storm, having all the kids trying on their boots and snow pants. A couple of the pants came up a bit short, but they'll do until we can get out shopping.

The kids managed to get outside and make a snowman family, even if they had to borrow some snow from the neighbour's yard.

So cute!

My Precious turns 6

2011-11-25T19:13:00.001-08:00

My Precious turned 6 yesterday. She had a little party at school, then we gave her a present; a Lalaloopsy.

She really likes playing with it and her sister is pretty happy because she gets to play with it, too.

Biblical Bread

2011-11-22T14:06:00.000-08:00

Do you remember in the 'old' days (1970's and 1980's), when brown bread was considered a healthy food and most kids preferred white? As long as I can remember, we have eaten brown bread in my house and I thought I was making a good choice.

It turns out, that brown bread just doesn't cut it anymore. There's brown bread that is brown because of colouring. Whole wheat isn't enough anymore. It should be whole grain.

I decided to try to follow some of the suggestions in Tosca Reno's Eat Clean book and she recommends Ezekiel bread, among other foods. I had no idea what Ezekiel bread was and couldn't even find it at my local grocery store.

I finally found the bread in the frozen organic section of a bigger grocery store. It being already frozen wasn't an issue as I usually keep my bread in the freezer anyway since I go through a loaf every 3 to 4 weeks.

What did phase me was reading the package, only to discover that the bread is named after a Bible verse!

"Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself" - Ezekiel 4, 9.

That threw me for a loop. The bread itself was hearty; not at all light, and quite flavourful. I decided to compare nutrition labels, with the Dempster's 100% whole wheat bread we usually keep in the house. It isn't all that different, although it does have a touch more of the healthy stuff; fibre, protein, and a touch less of the undesirable stuff: salt, carbs, sugar.

I think I'll keep eating it.

Getting the Skinny on New Jeans

2011-11-20T06:40:00.000-08:00

After my co-worker raved about hers, I went and tried on the skinny jeans at American Eagle Outfitters. I normally don't go into that store as it seems to cater to teenagers, and I've never considered skinny jeans as suitable for my body style. Imagine my surprise when I loved the way the skinny jeans looked! They didn't have the midnight indigo colour I wanted, in my size. I called around to other stores and couldn't get them. I went on-line and they were sold out. After a while, I gave up.

A few weeks ago, we were talking about jeans. I have two pairs of jeans that fit me right now. One is a dressy pair that I wear to work with heels on Fridays. The other pair was purchased at the Goodwill for $7 about 5 years ago. They are looking pretty shabby now.
I was happy when I stopped by the mall on Wednesday after work and found that the store had my size in the midnight indigo skinnies. I love they way they look and feel on. It's nice to have jeans that can go with flats and that are so stylish.

Hockey Tournament

2011-11-19T08:04:00.000-08:00

Sweet Pea's hockey team went to Cornwall to participate in the 28th annual Cornwall Girls' Hockey Association tournament last weekend. They went 1-1-1 for the weekend.

The girls and parents were excited to get out of school a little early to head down to Cornwall for the weekend. Sweet Pea sang in the Remembrance Day ceremony in the choir in the morning and I signed her out right after. I had the whole day off work and still had some food to pack up for the weekend, so we hung out at home a little while and I packed the cooler.

The team played Friday evening at 4:30 and beat our first opponents. The arena was really new, and very nice. The only quirky thing about it was that we coaches had to walk on the ice to get to the bench. I definitely felt naked with shoes on walking across the ice!

We had time for a swim after supper on Friday and the girls had a lot of fun playing hide and go seek at the hotel when that was done.

On Saturday, we had a team breakfast, then went to the arena for our 10:30 match-up with one of the Cornwall teams. The girls did their best, which is all I ask of them, and we ended up losing the game. After a meeting with the parents, we had a great team lunch together around noon. The service was great, and the kids' meals were cheap. We had to win our Saturday afternoon game and some other teams had to lose theirs for us to advance. We tied the game 1-1 so we were done.

Most of the families stayed at the hotel Saturday night even though we didn't have any games on Sunday. We ordered pizza from Cornwall BBQ and stayed for the dance party. The girls were showing off their moves on the dance floor, and enjoying the chips and glow necklaces and they got to stay up really late.

I think everyone had a good time at the tournament and slept really well on Sunday night. Even the coach.

Hallowe'en Costume Contest Winners

2011-11-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

At our Hallowe'en party, we had people vote for the winners of the costume contest. There were 5 categories;

Funniest/Silliest Costume
Sexiest Costume
Most Original Costume
Best Couples' Costume
Best Overall Costume

There were 5 bottles of alcohol as prizes. The first winner called could choose whichever bottle they wanted. The next person could steal the bottle from the first person or choose something new, and so it continued until the end when the winner of the best overall costume could have their pick and everyone had their prizes.

So without further ado, the winners were...

Kermit the Frog as the Funniest CostumeMelissa the Firewoman for Sexiest CostumeRich as the Hangover, for most original costume. Unfortunately, Rich had to go home early, but he forgot his baby so we took a picture of that instead of him in costume.This is what Rich looked like before he left the partyFiona and Brodie won for best couples' costumeAndreina and Christopher won for Best Overall Costume

The winners accepting their prizes. Lesley accepting on behalf of Rich and Brodie is nowhere to be found.

Amazing Hallowe'en Costumes

2011-11-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

There were some fantastic costumes at our Hallowe'en party. Sadly, my camera battery died as the first guests arrived and I didn't get photos of everyone as they came in. I ended up missing a few of the guests, including one of the costume contest winners!

We had a costume contest this year, and everyone at the party got to vote in the following categories;

Funniest/Silliest Costume
Sexiest Costume
Most Original Costume
Best Couples Costume
Best Overall Costume

I didn't get a chance to vote, and neither did DH, but most people did, based on the number of ballots Mel and I counted out.

Here are some of the amazing costumes that didn't win a prize. Come back soon to see the ones that did win as I will post them this week.A pirate and a genieRosie the Riveter and a Russian mechaniceA hippie and a bikerCowboysZombie parentsA cowboy and a pirateFriday the 13thPirate and TreasureJailbird and Alice in WonderlandPilotsPimp and Hippie

The Band

Hallowe'en Party Recap

2011-10-31T17:35:00.000-07:00

We were very happy to host our third annual Hallowe'en party this year. It was loads of fun this year. We played a party game called the Name Game and it was a big hit. Even skeptics like Ron and Sean liked it and it really got people mingling, so much so that I didn't have to make introductions and everyone seemed to be talking to everyone.

We didn't have enough time to prepare a song to perform at the party this year with all the hockey we've been doing. We definitely won't miss next year, and we're going to start preparing right away. Hopefully Sean and Rich can come over and jam with us on a regular basis.

Here was the inspiration shot for my costume. I made everything from scratch, right down to the pig ears.Me as First Mate Piggy and Mindy as an airline pilot

Making my costume and Chris' was really the most time consuming part of preparing for the party. I will definitely be buying my costume next year, with this blog post as a reminder of why I want to do that. I spent countless hours on my costume, purchasing the fabric, designing the dress, epaulettes, belt and ears, only to be a little disappointed that it didn't have a big impact like I was hoping.

I was trying to compete with Miss Piggy? What was I thinking?

Round 2 of Voting!

2011-10-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

If you want to help out, the Aviva Fund round 2 is now taking place. It is free to register and to vote.

http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf11693

Vote for Foundations for Functional Communities

2011-10-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

Please read on to read about my friend Mindy's amazing initiative to help non-verbal children, like her son Connor, have access to augmentative communication devices.

"Hi Everyone,

Inspired by my son Connor's indomitable will, I submitted my idea 'Foundations for Functional Communication' to the Aviva Community Fund and it was approved. Now it is time to spread the word so Canadians will vote for it.

Here is a brief description and details on how to vote:

Recent advances have made electronic augmentative communication much more accessible to the average consumer. It is my belief that these devices can be integral in building early communication systems form any non-verbal children. Funds would be used to purchase and provide early access to equipment, training, education,funding advocation services and support for families prior to school age. The ultimate goal of this idea is to have non-verbal children up and running with a functional communication system before school. Imagine what these children could do and what their teachers could teach if they already had a functional
communication system in place.

1. Go to http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf11693 to view my detailed proposal

2. If you haven't already, you will have to register with Aviva (don't worry they won't spam you). If you have forgotten your password don't worry, click Sign In; enter your email address and click on Forgot Password follow the instructions from there.

3. Vote every day. You have 15 votes to give (1/day) and they can all go to one idea. (Save it on your favorites so that your daily vote will really only take 30 seconds of your time.)

4. Spread the word - email your friends and family, post the link on Facebook or Twitter so they can vote daily and help my idea make the semi finals.

The easiest way to find my idea is to click here http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf11693 or go to www.avivacommunityfund.org and search for ACF11693

VOTE NOW until October 19th

I have attached a flyer with tear off voting info should you wish to print it and leave a copy in your staff room to help spread the word.

Thank in advance for taking the time to check this out

Sincerely

Mindy

Taking a Break From 5 Minutes for Special Needs

2011-09-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

In case you were looking for my Sunday afternoon posts, I decided to take a little break from posting over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs. You can still read my old posts and I will likely be resuming posting in a couple of months. I felt that I should be looking forward to posting, but I was beginning to dread it, mostly due to the time commitment, the fact that I felt I was running out of things to say, and the fact that I received very few comments on my posts, making me feel that they weren't really resonating with anyone outside of my family and friends.

The other reason I decided to take a break is because I have decided to become my older daughter, Sweet Pea's head coach in hockey. The time commitment this weekend alone is pretty big, and the first month or so will be very busy as I take a coaching course, get the team set up, enroll for tournaments, etc.

So thanks to all of you who emailed or me or told me that you enjoyed my posts at 5 Minutes. Once I start posting on my own blog more, I'll share a bit more about Precious' disability here as things come up at school or at home.

Anybody out There?

2011-08-14T17:47:00.001-07:00

I know I've been neglecting my blog lately so I decided I will just post something to let everyone know that I'm still here and have lots to tell you!

We've had some pretty outrageous weather here over the last couple of months. There have been lots of thunderstorms. In fact, we're having one right now.

So when I called a tree service about taking down our Norway/Manitoba Maple tree in the back yard, it was weeks before they could even come to give an estimate. With an outbreak of Emerald Ask Borer in our city, the tree services have plenty to do.

Our maple wasn't in very good shape, and it's one of those fast-growing, non-native Maples that should not be planted here, as far as I'm concerned. The fall colour was nice, but that's about it. Much of our lawn was shaded by the tree, and it didn't really do much but crowd our pine and tamarack tree, and kill the lawn underneath. The tree was even slowly rising out of the ground and was getting higher and higher, with more and more root exposed.

Despite the cost of having the tree taken down, we didn't see much choice but to do it as the tree trunk was splitting in two places, and with it being taller than a three-storey house, it definitely wasn't a do-it-yourself job.

Above is the tree, just to the right of the slide.
Here's what our neighbour's house looks like now that the tree is gone. I'm standing the opposity back corner of my yard. You can see the large crater in the lawn, which is still there 2 months later. We haven't got around the chopping out the roots and re-sodding this spot, but the grass all around is happier, we have beautiful morning sun in our windows now, and there's more room to play in the back yard.

A Better Picture

2011-06-22T15:46:00.001-07:00

DH got a better picture of the 4-leaf clover that day, and he sent it to me so I could post it and you could see that it was real.

Peonies are in Bloom

2011-06-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

The peonies in my garden are in bloom. I got this photo on the weekend, and it is straight out of the camera!
I haven't been doing much photography lately and it was fun to take 10 minutes on the weekend to get out there and take a few pics.

Another Piano Recital

2011-06-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

Sweet Pea had her recital on Sunday. She played every note right and looked so cute wearing her sister's outfit.
Her sister looked really cute in her Minnie Mouse ears and fairy wings.And I was so happy to get a cute photo of the three kids together!

Tag Along

2011-06-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

Read my newest post at 5 Minutes for Special Needs about Precious and her tag-along.

Just Because

2011-06-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

Just because she's so cute, I had to include this photo of my Precious, wearing a giraffe print hat from Gymboree.

Aunt Nora came to Visit

2011-06-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

DH's Aunt Nora came to visit this weekend and the weekend before. In between, she did a watercolour symposium at the local university.

On her first weekend here, she gave Sweet Pea a watercolour painting lesson and Sweet Pea created a great first painting.

The painting was so impressive that many people couldn't believe she had painted it, but she did!

I Never Promised you a Veggie Garden

2011-06-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

I planted a square foot garden this year, with little plots of each kind of veggie. We had a big salad for supper last night. I didn't plant my seeds until the long weekend in May, so my lettuce wasn't quite ready yet, but it will be in a couple of weeks!
Yummy.

Lucky Girl

2011-06-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

My girl decided she was going to find a 4-leaf clover and within a minute, she'd found one!

I know I didn't do it justice with this photo, but I swear it really was a 4-leaf clover!

Gardening Weekend

2011-05-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of time this weekend gardening. I got 6 yards of mulch delivered on Monday (about the volume of my entire station wagon), and now I'm weeding all the flower beds and putting the mulch on them. The mulch really keeps the weeds down and keeps the moisture in the soil, meaning they don't need water, not that I'd water them anyway! I got a really dark colour and I love the light hostas against the dark mulch.

Beth's favourite garden sayings:
Garden saying #1 "patience in gardening is measured in years, not minutes"
Garden saying #2 "if it needs water after the first two weeks in my garden, it doesn't belong in my garden!"

I also bought some annuals as I have an urn on my front porch and two big pots on my back patio. I got a high contrast combination of purples and neon greens, as well as one silvery plant, and one that flowers yellow for the back and orange begonias for the front. Now, if I get the chance to paint my front door green, I'll be happy.

I was proud of myself for not buying any new perennials this year, but at the cash register when I was buying the annuals, they had some native plants for sale, and there were black-eyed susans. I have a weak spot for these as they used to grow along the side of the road near my rural childhood home. I had some of these rudebeckia in my yard when I first moved here, but I tried moving them and they all died. I tried planting some from seed and none grew. This time, I've put the plants in front of a large rock in a nice sunny spot and I can't wait to see them grow! As I buy new plants, I'm trying to focus on native plants (see gardening saying #2).

I'm exhausted and still have at least 2 yards of mulch to go, and two large flower beds to weed. It'll have to wait for next weekend.

Cute Girl

2011-05-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

My Sweet Pea has glasses. She's adorable!

Tackle Football and Mother's Day

2011-05-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day, we went to a park down by the river with my mom, brother and sister-in-law and my hubby and kids.

DH brought a football and a soccer ball and we had a wonderful picnic, some playtime, and a tour of the pioneer museum.

Precious was off walking Moses, the dog, and face-planted and there was a huge amount of blood.

After about two hours at the park, we headed home, full of yummy sandwiches, date squares, veggies, and cheese.

Spring Concert

2011-05-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

Precious had her spring concert last week. It was adorable and sweet.
Precious is second from the left. If you can't tell, she's wearing a yellow umbrella hat and yellow rubber boots. She also had the yellow rain coat, but the teacher decided there was no time to change between singing "I'd like the Teach the World to Sing" and "Singing In the Rain".

Most Recent Post at 5 Minutes for Special Needs

2011-05-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

Come over the 5 Minutes for Special Needs to read my most recent post. It's about social inclusion for children with developmental disabilities.

May Day

2011-05-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

My boy turned 9 on May 1st.

His birthday was as close as it's ever been to Easter so it kind of snuck up on me this year. I had this vague idea that he would be ready to have a small party with just one or two friends, dinner and a movie and a sleepover, but Mr. Boy would have none of it. He really wanted a big party with lots of friends (hopefully not because of the presents!) and he insisted it be at home rather than out.

He wanted a party just like his friend Corey's from last year. I emailed Corey's mom and she told me they played Pin the Wand on Harry Potter and a game called Pick a Penny. She said the games were very simple but that the kids had lots of fun. In fact, Mr. Boy still talks about it.

I did my best trying to re-create the Pick a Penny game on a piece of cardboard. There were 30 equally-sized squares on one sheet of Bristol board. 4 squares said "Pick a Prize" and the rest were split between "Lose a Penny" and "Pick a Penny". The kids had to bounce a penny off the wall about 4 feet up the wall, and do whatever the square said where the penny landed. They all started with three pennies and it took a long while before anyone won a prize. The prizes were half-price Easter chocolates I had bought at Zeller's a couple of days before the party. Sweet Pea managed the rogue pennies and giving out the prizes.

Kids that ran out of pennies or got bored played on the trampoline.

The kids were so amazing. They did silly rabbit ears in the photos, and made fart jokes, but they all agreed on rules when the rules weren't clear, they all took off their shoes at the door without being asked, and they generally managed themselves. It was the easiest party I've ever had at home.

With the games and prizes being so cheap, we made the loot bags a bit nicer, and ordered in pizza for everyone. Nine 8, 9 and 10-year old boys can eat a shocking amount of pizza. I let each boy have a can of pop and several asked with surprise and disbelief "You mean I can have the WHOLE can?" They were so cute.

Duncan came over for a sleepover that night as a special treat for Mr. Boy's birthday.

Mr. Boy got several Bey Blades and an arena and he has played with this so much.
Mr. Boy picked vanilla cake with cream cheese icing. I didn't decorate it at all.
The next day, we had everyone over for supper and at Mr. Boy's request, had BBQ chicken and sausages along with mashed potatoes and salad. The family cake was chocolate with butter/icing sugar icing. It was actually moist and light. No one was more surprised than me! I'm not known for my moist cake.
My boy is growing up.

Dodge Charger for a week

2011-05-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

We have a rental car while our car is in the shop for repairs after someone ran into it a few weeks back.

DH was offered a Nissan Altima which the car we currently own. I prefer this sedan that looks like a sports car since it's only for a week. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford the gas for it.

DH claims is purrs and it looks pretty nice, too but I had to darken the photo to make the dirt less visible. It's true what Gino Vanelli says - black cars do look better in the shade.

We Are the Champions, My Friend

2011-05-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Mr. Boy's hockey team went to the finals and won the championship in mid-April. In fact, they were undefeated during the regular season, too. Mr. Boy got one goal during the season, which I witnessed, even if I didn't make it for the final game.DH won coach of the year for his division and he was happy. He put his heart and soul and a lot of his free time into that team. He spent hours planning and running the practices. He organized the year-end trophies and the tournament medals, and the year-end bowling party.

I'm not upset that we have our weekends back for the summer. Next year should be lots of fun with Mr. Boy and Sweet Pea both playing hockey and both DH and I coaching.

TV Guide Kate and William Special

2011-05-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

After worrying I wouldn't be able to make a decision on which royal wedding commemorative issue I would buy before they were all sold out, I decided to splurge on the TV Guide Kate and William special edition. I generally like the photography and the format of Hello! Canada and it was for sale at Costco, where I ended up shopping last Monday. When I leafed through the photography, though, I wasn't too excited by the excessive amount of photo retouching on all of the photos of Kate so I put it back.

As I was heading to the checkout, I saw the TV Guide Kate and William special. I loved that it's a mix of back story, design, baby photos, and just the right amount of wedding photos. After all, I don't really want to see 462 different photos of Kate in her wedding dress. A couple of her from different angles is plenty, thank you very much.

So I am quite happy with my purchase, and I finally finished watching the last of the 10 hours of coverage that I had taped on my PVR.

3rd anniversary of my blog

2011-05-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

Just trying to decide which commemorative magazine to buy for Kate and Will's wedding. Ideas? I watched the ceremony real-time, but haven't watched the other 9 hours of footage I taped on my PVR.

Aside from that, since I last blogged;
I've had a great overnight trip to the States for shopping with some ladies in my family
I've worked a bunch of overtime (unpaid, of course).
I've planned and held a birthday party for my son.
I've held and planned and held a birthday party for myself. I'm turning 40 tomorrow - or as one of my birthday cards said "20/20" although mathematically, I know this is not correct!
I've joined Twitter - finally.
Gardened to the point of three bloody blisters.
I've had a wonderful mother's day and had a picnic with my mom.
I've started playing hockey again for the summer.
I've volunteered to help coach my daughter's soccer team.
And that's about it!

Tomorrow, I'm off to the allergist (after a 10 month wait for an appointment) with Sweet Pea to see if she really is allergic to kiwi, and then straight to the magazine rack at the drug store under the doctor's office to make my selection of the best magazine.

Spring is Finally Here!

2011-04-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

I have blisters to prove that I did some gardening on the weekend. I'm thinking of trying a square foot veggie garden this year. One of my complaints with the traditional gardening method is getting in there when everything is overgrown and the tomatoes need to be picked. I'm hoping that planting less and spreading it out into square foot spaces will make it easier to access.

I plan to plant tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins and some greens.

The weather is fantastic spring weather. Cool some days, warm other and lots of rain.

April showers bring May flowers and I can't wait for my perennials to start blooming. The front bed of my house is full of spring blooming anemones in purple and pink and I'm so excited!

Beth's Big 40th Birthday Bash

2011-04-17T17:32:00.001-07:00

I finally decided what to do for my 40th birthday! I'm having a down home birthday party at the local country bar. I'm so excited. I've got the cowboy theme built in and the manager has some great tables reserved for us. I'm going to buy myself a cowboy hat or at least a plaid shirt and now all I need is some ideas for party games. Got any?

Little House On the Prairie

2011-04-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Mr. Boy was studying pioneers at school when I suddenly realized that he's probably old enough for the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I was a fanatic of Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was younger and I couldn't wait to to share my love of the stories with my kids.

Mr. Boy and Sweet Pea both read the first two books of the series and loved them. *Squee*

On a side note, Mr. Boy checked out the price on the books and they were $1.95 each! Yes, these are my original series of books from the 70's which I have saved for over 30 years.

Time for a New Car?

2011-04-03T06:33:00.000-07:00

I saw the commercial for this Kia Sportage and thought to myself "too bad we don't need a new vehicle right now - I'd buy this just for the colour!" The website version of this colour they call "citrus yellow" just doesn't do it justice.

Photo Before and Afters

2011-04-01T14:37:00.001-07:00

I took the photos from the sugar bush and applied Becky Earl's fantastic workflow. The first time I tried this, each photo took me over 30 minutes. This time, it was about 10 minutes each.

I just submitted these for printing and got 8X12's printed at Costco. I don't have frames yet, or a place to hang them, but at $2 per print at Costco, there's really no risk.

Before
After
Before
After
BeforeAfter

Yummy Bagel Sandwich

2011-03-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

My co-workers and I went to the home and garden show on the weekend. The highlights, aside from spending time with friends from work, was seeing Karl Lohnes talk about the top 5 colours for homes, an amazing pre-fab cottage that was set-up in the parking lot (I WANT it!) and the amazing bagel I had for lunch.

Bagels at the home show?

The home show was right across the street from the best bagels in Ottawa at Kettleman's. Hand-rolled right in front of your eyes, baked in a open wood-fired oven, and with an almost infinite number of choices when you combine types of bagels and toppings.

I often go for turkey and swiss or a BLT when I'm getting a sandwich. This time, I chose the CBC Melt. A roasted chicken breast, swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mustard on a sesame bagel. It was incredibly tasty and really hit the spot after spending the morning at the home show.

Should help give me the energy I'll need to tackle all the decorating ideas I got from the show.

5 Minutes for Special Needs

2011-03-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

I've been posting weekly over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs for just over 4 months now. This blog has suffered, but I had so many things I wanted to say about my youngest daughter and now I have a venue for that.

January to March are usually months where I put my camera away and hardly look at it, and it's been tough to make time to blog with all three kids in piano, swimming lessons and one other sport each.

Ever since I started working full-time, I've been getting all my writing energies out there so this blog has taken a back seat.

I hope you'll stick with me and check back every week or two.

New Photos

2011-03-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

I took a few photos at the log farm yesterday and they are looking pretty good straight out of the camera so I can't wait to see what will happen once I work on them.

Sweet

2011-03-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

DH's father is visiting this week and I took today off of work to go with everyone to the sugar bush. We went to the Log Farm again because you get to see the old-fashioned sugar shack as well as the old farmstead, and they even have a few animals. There was a fire with marshmallows to roast, and we partook of the all-you-can eat buffet with pancakes, maple syrup, hash brown and sausages>
Walking to the sugar shack from the old homestead.
Checking out the pigs.
Eating maple taffy and collecting sap in a bucket.

After walking around for three hours, we were ready to go home and we had a wonderful time.

Shopping

2011-03-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

I generally buy very little in January. I'm usually burnt out from Christmas and feeling a little poor. This year was no exception.

A couple of weeks ago, I was on a course downtown so I took advantage of having an hour for lunch and being downtown, to do a little shopping on the last day.

I've been wanting to get a long down-filled parka suitable for the weekend. It would use it for walks, outdoor activities with the kids, going to hockey games and skating practice, and so much more. I had a short down-filled parka but I was always getting cold air on my lower back and waist unless I was also wearing snow pants.

On my shopping trip, I found the perfect coat and it was even more perfect because it was 50% off. It still cost almost $200, but it's high quality and I'm sure I'll have it for a long time.
I'm happy with my little splurge and I've been wearing it all over. It's nice and warm and water resistant, as I found out on Saturday when it was raining. The hood was really handy on Monday when it was -17 degrees Celcius.

P.S. DH fixed the new light fixture in the kitchen. Apparently, I hadn't installed it properly, which I was happy to hear. I couldn't have taken another trip to the lighting store without screaming. And the light it produces is beautiful and diffused and warm because of the cream-coloured shade.

Edited to add: The coat is the Katie coat by Lolë.

See The Light

2011-02-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

When we first moved into our house over 7 years ago, there was a hideous 80's-era light hanging over the kitchen table. We took it down and put up a cheap-IKEA light which I loved at the time. It had an exposed bulb and once we bought all compact flourescents, the light fixture looked terrible and the bulb was overly glaring and ugly.

After seeing a cute light fixture at my neighbours' house, I went and bought it myself!

I went to install the light, and had the old one taken down before I realized that one of the metal bars from the new lamp was missing. I had to put the old light back up and about two weeks later made it back to the lighting store to exchange the light. I explained the situation and got a new light with a box that had never been opened. About two weeks later, when I got around to installing the light, I realized that this time the shade was missing from the box!

My mom returned the second dud light for me. Another couple of weeks later, I finally got around to installing it yesterday and it looks great. The only problem is: it doesn't work and I can't figure out why.Aaargh! I sure hope I don't have to take it down and return it for a third time.

The Navigator of New York Book Club Guide

2011-02-20T13:54:00.000-08:00

I've been the member of a very small book club on and off for a couple of years.

Our most successful book club meeting occurred after we had read The Book Of Negroes. I think it was because we had a list of questions at the back of the book which were meant for book club discussions. Since we're reading The Navigator of New York, by Wayne Johnston for this week's book club, I searched the internet to find similar questions to guide our discussion on Thursday.

There wasn't much out there, so I ended up making up my own questions and I'm posting them here to share with my fellow book club members and the rest of the world.

1. What role does the city of New York play? It goes through so many changes, can it be seen as one of the characters of the novel?

2. There are many letters written throughout this book and they are used in interesting ways. How do the letters contribute to the story?

3. As this is a novel and not a play, do you feel that there was an overuse of dialog?

4. Devline Stead was uneducated man from St. John's, yet never made a misstep and spoke like an educated man from a young age. What do you think contributed to this?

5. Johnston's depiction of Robert Peary was rather scathing. He is the villain of the story?

6. Devlin becomes an orphan three times; once at his choosing and twice not. If he hadn't met Kristine, what would have become of him?

7. What do you like about historical fiction? What don’t you like?

8. At the end of the 1800's, the novel makes it seem that a person's reputation was very important. How important is reputation now?

9. Dr. Cook revealed things piecemeal to Devlin in his letters piecemeal, with sometimes months in between. Today, we can get frustrated when emails take an hour to arrive. Do you think people were more patient back then?

10. Why does Devlin agree to be brought to the pole without the ability to navigate, read the instruments, or understand the route they are to take?

11. Why is the book called The Navigator of New York?

12. Do you find there is a good use of humour in the book?

13. Several times, especially at the beginning of the book, one of the characters explains that there are 'no words to describe' something. Do you think this was an effective device?

14. The role of women in the late 1800's was much different than it is now. Why do you think the wife of Peary accompanied him to Greenland?

On My Own

2011-02-16T19:24:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, DH went on a ski weekend with Mr. Boy and some other male members of the family. There used to be a time when this kind of absence would scare me and I would wrack my brain over how I would manage to parent the kids for a whole weekend without Daddy. I would try to plan meals ahead, and arrange visits and playdates and generally over-plan and work myself up over how I would fill the time. I did a little bit of that before this weekend and almost over-scheduled myself.

Turns out, the girls and I did fine alone, thank-you-very-much. We went to skating lessons and gymnastics. We stopped at the store. Watched a movie on Saturday night. We ate all our meals at home. I did the laundry, cleaned, sewed, watched TV, and stopped at the knitting store. Sweet Pea went to a birthday party, and Precious and I got groceries, and I even got the girls ready, all dressed up and took them to their piano recital on Sunday afternoon.

I'm loathe to show any vulnerability (just ask DH who will tell you that I am fiercely independent) so even admitting that I have had my doubts about having the kids home alone is hard. Granted, with only two of the three kids, my life was a bit easier. Sweet Pea is much more likely to play with Precious if her big brother isn't there.

The reality is that my kids are getting older. My youngest child is 5 years old, even if she is 3 years old developmentally. That makes life a whole lot easier and means that DH doesn't have to worry about me when he's not here.

I'm in Love!

2011-02-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

Ever find something and it clicks right away?

I felt that way about Boden U.S.A. as soon as I got on the site, and I especially love the Outfit Maker and the sample outfits. I love the way each piece of clothing shows what goes with it.

I love the features of the site and I even love the colour scheme. I've never bought anything there and I'm not even sure they ship to Canada, but I sure love browsing the site.

Missing in Action

2011-01-24T09:10:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted much lately. I've been posting weekly over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs. Check out my latest post.

I've got lots to tell you and hopefully I'll get a chance to blog soon.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-11T06:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone and I'm finally getting around to looking at the photos and posting a few pics.

On Christmas Eve, we went to my cousin Angela's to celebrate. My aunt and uncle were up from Conneticut and my cousin Matt skyped in from Australia. My dad, brother and sister-in-law were all there.

Christmas morning, the kids woke up around 7:30 and came down to see if Santa had come. Which he had. The stockings were overflowing, the carrot was mostly eaten and all that was left of the cookies and milk was a few crumbs and a dribble of milk in the glass.
Opening stockings is fun. Precious got a matching game.
Chocolate for breakfast is always a treat. Mommy, Daddy and Gramps got stockings, too. Mine had a knitting magazine, and lots of my favourite chocolates.
We started opening our presents soon after and Gramps got two nice sweaters.
Precious got The Cat in the Hat and Gramps read it to her.
She also got a Dora Wii game which she really likes.

Mr. Boy got a Sens hoodie which he wears 24/7.
Sweet Pea got some new clothes in her favourite colour scheme - black and white. She chose to wear one of her new outfits rather than the black and white party dress I had bought her the week before. The girls look cute sitting together even though Sweet Pea isn't wearing her coordinating dress.We had supper at my mom's with my stepfather's family, my brother, my sister-in-law and my dad. Supper was delicious and the house was beautifully decorated.

Sweet Pea's Birthday Celebration

2011-01-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

We had Sweet Pea's birthday party for the family on December 19th - one day before her birthday. At her request, we had spaghetti for supper. I also served caesar salad and garlic bread. Rather than a cake, we made cookies for everyone.

The girls dressed up in their new Christmas dresses, and not to be outdone, Mr. Boy wore his smart-looking black dress shirt. That kid is growing so fast, that I can't keep up with his clothing and I'm going to need to get a grant from the government! LOL!
Sweet Pea was happy to see everyone and felt really special because I had blown dry her hair into a style and tied it back in a very cool way.
Her sister wanted the exact same style, of course, and the girls looked adorable in their dresses and matching shoes.The next day there was no school. At daycare, Sweet Pea got a Moxie girl from her daycare provider. When I picked the kids up after work, SP opened her present from the family which was some nice clothes for her. When Daddy got home, we went to her favourite restaurant, East Side Mario's for supper.

Sweet Pea Turns 7!

2011-01-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

It seems like just yesterday that I was blogging about Sweet Pea turning 6. Now she's 7!

We had her party at a gymnastics place where the kids play on the cool equipment for an hour, then have food and a cake.
The driving wasn't too great with freezing rain coming down, but that didn't deter any of the parents from dropping off their precious bundles for 2 hours of fun.

Here's one of my precious bundles!
Sweet Pea swinging from a rope. Notice the rock climbing wall in the background.
Getting a photo with Big Brother.
With some of the gang, about the jump into the foam pit.
Sweet Pea was in the heaven being the centre of attention and the group leader was great. We brought fruits, veggies and chips to eat and a homemade cake that Sweet Pea helped to decorate.

Christmas List Update

2010-12-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

I have about a million things to do before Christmas.

Must do list
Get a tree – Done but it’s not decorated yet.
Buy presents – Not done yet but I have a list and I’m getting closer to being done.

Want to do list
Make Christmas cookies – Will be doing this on Wednesday or Thursday night.
Make homemade gifts for my coworkers - Will be doing this on Wednesday or Thursday night while I make the cookies.
Decorate the inside of my house – As done as it’s going to get.
Buy some LED lights – Got some for outside and installed them backwards but they still look good! Next year I’ll know how to put them up correctly.
Get stockings for DH and me - Done
Get a new Christmas CD – Done – Got a Motown Christmas and now I’m wishing I’d bought the Annie Lennox Christmas CD.
Plan a get-together or two – Not likely to happen as we were busy all this weekend and we are next weekend, too. We don’t have any free weekend nights between now and Christmas!
Go see Santa - Nope
Mail Christmas cards – Not gonna happen!
Re-decorate my whole house to make the Christmas decorations look better! – I wish. I’d be happy if our new dishwasher gets installed before Christmas. We had problems with the latch, but a couple of weeks back, blue smoke started coming out of it during the wash cycle so we decided to get a new one. I’m tired of washing the dishes by hand.

New Post Over a 5 Minutes for Special Needs

2010-12-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

Head over to 5 Minutes for Special Needs to see what I posted last week.

Wardrobe Update

2010-12-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I went on a scrapbooking retreat with two girlfriends. It was an hour out of town, and now that we have a second car, I was able to drive up on my own and take advantage of the Thursday night option that was offered. My friends were only coming up on Friday, and since I had the Thursday evening, and Friday to myself, I decided to do a little shopping while I was out of town. For all my talk of buying only quality pieces, I still love Smart Set and always find myself getting excited when I go in that store. The prices are so amazing.

I showed up on the Friday morning when the store opened, looking for a pair of dressy jeans for work. Almost 2 hours and $500 later, I left the store with an large number of items. I felt a thrill, but later a little remorse as I could scarcely afford $500. When the weekend was over, I asked DH to help me decide which things to return. I ended up bringing back about $150 worth of items.

I did find those jeans I wanted, and I feel like a million bucks in them! They're dressy enough for Fridays at work and look fantastic with heels.
I got this casual shirt for the weekends. I'm so in love with gray right now.
My jeggings. The 20 year-old girls on my hockey team make fun of me for wearing these, but they wear their pants so low that their underwear and butt cracks show - so I think they're the fools! Call it a generation gap. These jeans are comfy and don't have any big buckle or buttons to accentuate my tummy.I got this tank top in dark gray. I plan to wear it to a cocktail party tonight under a plum-coloured velvet jacket with black cigarette pants.

I can't believe how many compliments I've gotten on this necklace. I love the black beads as it gives it a bit of a vintage feel.
I haven't had a chance to wear this one yet, as my 'country' beige sweater is at the dry cleaners.
I've been living in this vest. In fact, I'm wearing it right now! It looks great over a white blouse and under my dark gray blazer and work. On the weekends, it looks good with my brown cords or jeggings, over a long-sleeved scoop neck t-shirt.I also got two long-sleeved t-shirts, a teal cowl-neck sweater, a pair of dark gray dress pants which fit beautifully and which I can wear with my oh-so-sexy orthopedic shoes, and dark gray casual, cotton jacket, double-breasted with oversized buttons. I love to wear the jacket to work on Fridays, and it is wonderful to keep warm on the weekends.

New Wheels

2010-12-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

We were proudly a one-car family for about 4 years. It was one of the ways we kept down our expenses when I was off work for 2 years, then part-time for 2 years. When I went back to work full-time and we switched from a nanny to a home daycare in our neighbourhood, I figured I could walk the kids home from daycare every day. The weather conspired against us, plus the lack of sidewalks on our route home meant that not only was it raining for a week straight, but our shoes, feet and pant legs were getting soaked, too. Precious was so tired after her first full days of school, that getting the kids home on foot was pretty miserable.

We couldn't decide what vehicle to get. A small, commuter car? A minivan? Another sedan? If we got a van, everyone could fit in it and we could even get in a friend or two. What about gas mileage? Cost? Style?

We kept trying to picture our future needs, but that was pretty useless. I don't think we're very good at that!

Finally, DH just decided and picked out a new car for us. I went to test drive it and liked it. Our new Mazda 5 has three rows of seats, so it seats 6, one more than our Altima. It's pretty good on gas, and it's versatile as each of the 4 back seats can fold down independently.The car is slightly taller than our Altima, but not as long. That being said, I guess it looks like a minivan. Beside our Altima, it doesn't look like a minivan to me, but I'm willing to concede that it could be considered a mini minivan.

My favourite things about the car are the decisive brakes, the cleanliness of it, the ease of buckling the kids in, the sliding doors on the side (no more worrying about the kids smashing other cars in a parking lot!) the thermostat-controlled interior heater and being able to plug in my iPod into the stereo. Now if only I could remember to put my iPod in the car when I'm driving somewhere!

Hockey 2010-2011

2010-12-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

Mr. Boy decided he wanted to play hockey this year.
At the pre-season warmup that Andy organized, Mr. Boy had a great time and Daddy helped out on the ice.

After the sort-outs, Andy called DH to tell what team Mr. Boy was on and to convince him to be the head coach, even though it didn't take much persuasion.

DH has put his heart and soul into this team and had taken various courses, planned all the practices and has been eating, breathing and sleeping hockey! Mr. Boy practices every Saturday and Sunday, and DH is there early and is the last to leave. He is dedicated to getting the most improvement out the boys possible.

Mr. Boy had his first ever game last weekend and he did great. I was so impressed with how much he had improved since the beginning of the year, and at how well the team did. I had my video camera with me, and on Mr. Boy's first shift, he got a breakaway! And I got it all on tape!

Here's DH behind the bench.

And Mr. Boy on the bench. He's a big kid and he seems to have a real knack for defence. Daddy makes the practices fun and Mr. Boy is thrilled to be playing hockey.
This weekend, DH hosted a mid-season party for the boys. Ten boys, and two assistant coaches came and they played street hockey, had pizza, ran around like maniacs and played Wii hockey, or so I'm told. I was asked to clear out for the duration of the party so I took the girls out to see the movie Tangled and for a snack after.

Seeing Things In a Whole New Light!

2010-12-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

Mr Boy got his reading glasses recently. He says it is clearer when he's doing his marathon reading sessions. And I think he looks pretty cute in his glasses. He only needs to wear them when he's working at his desk or when reading at night, so he keeps them in his backpack in their case.

Christmas Countdown

2010-11-29T18:39:00.001-08:00

I have about a million things to do before Christmas.

Must do list
Get a tree
Buy presents

Want to do list
Make Christmas cookies
Make homemade gifts for my coworkers
Decorate the inside of my house
Buy some LED lights
Get stockings for DH and me
Get a new Christmas CD
Plan a get-together or two
Go see Santa
Mail Christmas cards
Re-decorate my whole house to make the Christmas decorations look better!

Blogging over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs

2010-11-22T00:04:00.000-08:00

I'll be posting over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs every Sunday afternoon. Come and check out my first post.

Field Trip Top Three

2010-11-20T17:52:00.000-08:00

I took Friday off of work and accompanied Mr. Boy's class on a field trip. They were going to the Museum of Civilization and learning about the First People and New France.

Supervising only five well-behaved, polite grade 3's for a day - awesome.
Learning about how hard the voyageurs worked, how many beaver pelts they traded and for what, and what the First Peoples found attractive - interesting.
Holding hands with my boy on the field trip and knowing that he's not too old to be seen hugging and kissing Mommy in public - priceless!

I used to be a 10, but now I'm an 8.5

2010-11-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

I went to see a pedorthist a few weeks back to get some better shoes. My stiff big toes have been bothering me a lot lately, so I've been wearing really floppy, loose shoes, which are hideously ugly, but at least they weren't pinching anywhere. Turns out, I was in a downward, vicious cycle since the loose, floppy shoes were actually making my toes hurt even more, causing be to be unable to wear stiffer shoes, which might have made things better.

The pedorthist was aghast at the shoes I was wearing when I showed up at our appointment three weeks ago. She got a history from me, did an exam, and measured me for orthotics. Then she gave me a list of things to look for in a shoe, the names of some companies that make good shoes for my foot condition, where to buy them, and a followup appointment for three weeks later. She also measured my feet and told me that I wear an 8.5. That's news to me since I've always worn a 9.5 or a 10. Turns out, I didn't need the length, but I did need the extra height of the bigger shoe.

I wasn't sure how I was going to find the time to get to the shoe store, Solea, as I assumed it wouldn't be open late on weeknights, it being a speciality store and all. Turns out, it was open late on Thursdays, but since I had Thursday and Friday off work, I was able to get there during the day on Thursday. After lamenting the poor selection, I managed to find a pair of orthopedic, rocker-soled shoes which I wouldn't be horribly embarrassed to wear in public. . I had hoped to come out of the store with a pair of dressy shoes, winter boots, and some slip on shoes to wear as slippers at home. At $260, plus $50 for HST (harmonized sales tax), I did find this pair of casual shoes, and it's a good thing there weren't any other shoes I liked. I'd be broke!

I had such a bad time at Solea, that I headed over Glebetrotters, and had an even worse time, there. The clerk kept going on about how we were in between seasons, and he didn't have any shoes because winter was almost here, but when I asked him about getting some winter boots, he used the same excuse! I left there frustrated and empty-handed.

I showed up for my pedorthist appointment on Friday night, and the pedorthist was pleased with my choice. She fitted my new orthotics in the shoes and I've been wearing them around the house, for a little bit longer each day.

To Tap or Not to Tap

2010-11-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

When I wash my hands at work, in an airport, or in a shopping centre, I notice the habits of the other hand washers. Most people do a decent job and I don't cringe when I need to use the handle after them on the way out of the bathroom.

The one habit I can't condone is sink tapping. I figure a bathroom sink in a public place is covered in germs. Why would someone wash their hands with soap, and rinse their germs into the sink, and seconds later tap their hands in the sink? To pick up their germs again?

I get that people want to remove some of the excess water on their hands, but they could use my drip and shake method quite successfully if they gave it a try.

Any sink tappers out there that can explain the attraction?

Trick or Treat to a Wicked Beat

2010-11-05T14:38:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, we went to the National Arts Centre with the kids to a family concert put on by the NAC Orchestra. I once dreamed of playing clarinet in the NACO.

We dressed up and headed out, despite feeling a little sluggish after our Halloween party the night before. I decided to pull out my old Chi-Chi's restaurant uniform from 1989 and take the braids out of the wig I wore when I was dressed up as a Viking. I was a Mexican senorita. Hopefully that is obvious.
I was happy to have another chance for the kids to wear their rather expensive costumes. Precious decided to pull out the clown costume she wore last year, which was a neighbourhood hand-me-down from now-high-school-student-Claire.

The concert was great. Four year-old Precious was rapt. She spent much of the concert with her hands pressed together, poised to applaud. Six year-old Sweet Pea insisted on sitting in the seat closest to the middle so she wouldn't miss anything. 8 year-old Mr. Boy saw that there was a Harry Potter song on the bill and kept asking me if they were there yet.

2nd Annual Halloween Party

2010-10-31T08:09:00.000-07:00

We had our 2nd annual Halloween Party on Friday night. We spent time every night last week preparing for the party. We rehearsed the song we were going to perform. I made palmiers, chocolate fudge cookies and roasted red pepper and gouda dip. We bought M&M's, a veggie tray, meatballs, chips and Lone Star salsa. We mixed up some black martinis and filled the coolers with beer, Pellegrino, mango juice and pop.

We wore another 'couple's' costume this year. We were vikings, both of us with long, braided wigs.

The kids went to my mom's for a sleepover, and thank goodness, because the last guests left at 3:00 and we were glad to get to sleep in until 11:00.

I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of all of the guests at the party, but I did get a lot of them.
There were so many good costumes, but I was partial to Greg's Mad Hatter, and Phil and Kathy's Mexican wrestlers "Captain Keg" and "Captain 6 Pack".

Music Mayhem

2010-10-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

DH is a major music fanatic. He is the proud owner of many musical instruments, all of which he plays to some extent or another. He took organ lessons for 8 years and can play a mean polka. The organ isn't far off from a piano, which we also own.

Since DH likes to write and record his own music, he has Ableton Live for the laptop and some various and sundry equipment, the purpose of which I can only pretend to know. What I do know is that is is a lot of equipment and setting it up on couch cushions and leaning over a synth on a coffee table is a less than ideal setup.

DH setup everything in the basement last week, and after seeing how much music stuff he had when most of it was in one room, I told DH he should look into getting a music studio setup for the basement. We planned some space for it in our basement and right now it's just housing some dolls and cradles.

If I had my way, we'd have a white metal L-shaped desk installed. It would be semi-industrial-looking and would have multiple shelves to hold all of DH's equipment. Of course function is critical, but I want it to look good, too. And I don't want DH to have to hunch over the coffee table anymore.

Raking

2010-10-18T18:58:00.001-07:00

While I was spending obscene amounts of money at Costco on Sunday, DH was home raking the back yard with the kids. I pulled in just as they were filling the last bag. So cute!

A new record

2010-10-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

I went to Costco this morning when it opened. I was in and out in 48 minutes and spent $480. Yep, for every minute I was there, I spent $10.

DH couldn't imagine how I could spend that much on groceries. I looked at my bill and noticed a few big ticket items

Shrimp $13.79
Salmon fillets $24.99
Cashews $14.99
Pantyhose $18.99 (it's fall and winter's coming, I've gotta have these for work)
Cat food $36.39
Kleenex $14.79

Not to mention all the little things that add up, like

Yams 5 lbs $3.99
Bananas $1.89
Caesar Salad dressing $4.89
Eggs $3.29 (for 18)
Crackers - 4 boxes $7.99

Later in the day, Mr. Boy cashed out his allowance account, all $48 and bought his first big ticket item, Super Mario Bros for the Wii. He is learning about money, trade-offs, priorities and saving. And buying that game made him really, really happy.

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

2010-10-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Friday was a pretty relaxed day of work after the crazy week we had. The big presentation we had been preparing for all week was at 2:00 on Friday afternoon. The place was half empty because it was the Friday before a long weekend.

Friday night, DH and I went to the see the movie The Social Network, which was entertaining.

On Saturday, Sweet Pea had skating in the morning and Mr. Boy had hockey in the afternoon. DH is the head coach of Mr. Boy's team and he takes his duties very seriously. He is bound and determined to get the boys on his team to the absolute peak of their potential. It's wonderful seeing DH so passionate about this, and I feel it really enhances Mr. Boy's hockey experience, too. Not only does he have his dad as the coach, but his dad is a good coach, too.

Saturday night, we watched the Toronto Maple Leafs embarrass the Senators, although I have to say it was entertaining nevertheless, because Toronto played so hard. Now that we're both working full time, we have all three kids in piano, and Mr. Boy plays hockey twice a weekend, plus Sweet Pea skates and Precious has gymnastics, DH and I were so beat that we didn't even stay up past the second period. Oh, I forgot to mention that my hockey season started this week, it was Meet the Teacher night at the older two kids' school, and I had a book club meeting, as well as my annual physical at my GP. Every week seems to be crammed to the gills lately.

We got a second car last week and DH spent yesterday cleaning the garage to see if we can fit it in there, alongside our old car and with the motorcycle. I did the groceries and went to the gym, and not much else.

Last night was Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's. Everyone brought something and the food was delicious. I had a turkey wing for supper, along with the stuffing, candied yams, brussel sprouts, etc, then keylime pie and pumpkin pie for dessert.

We took our annual Thanksgiving photo in front of my mom's tree and it turned out alright. I've also booked our Christmas 'portrait' at the grocery store photo studio. I booked it for a week after Precious' 5th birthday. I saw proofs of her school portrait and it was so awful, I have to get new ones taken, plus I want to get one of the whole family.
You just gotta love long weekends!

Gappy

2010-10-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

My almost-7-year-old daughter lost her two from teeth in a span of three days a couple of weeks ago. I keep asking her to say "Ethel Thayer" (obscure On Golden Pond reference).
She's adorable with her teeth, and might be even cuter without them, especially with chocolate ice cream all over her face.

Dishwasher

2010-10-02T11:20:00.001-07:00

About a week before I went back to work full-time, the latch on the dishwasher stopped working so the dishwasher wouldn't complete a cycle without having to hip-check the dishwasher closed every time it stopped working, several times through the cycle. It was annoying, but not bad.

I called the dishwasher guy to come on our Nanny's last day here, a Thursday. I knew she would be home and could let the guy in. He came, adjusted the latch and $90 later, my dishwasher worked. For one day.

I realized early that Saturday morning that adjusting the latch wasn't going to fix things and the dishwasher wasn't working again. The first day the repair guy could possibly come back was my first day full-time and the second week that DH was working at his new job. Neither of us really wanted to take time off, and I'm a 50 minute bus ride each way, and with the dishwasher guy giving us a three-hour window when he might show up, neither of us could do it.

My mom (the saint) volunteered to wait at the house the next week for the dishwasher guy to come back. He was in an out in a minute, and said that he needed to order a new part and would call when it came in, and schedule yet ANOTHER visit to the house where someone would have to sit and wait for up to three hours.

By this point, the frustration was getting to me. It'd had been weeks since the dishwasher had worked properly, and the latch seemed to be deteriorating even further, meaning that the hip-check method to clean dishes was no longer effective. We had to bring out the big guns!

DH rigged two kitchen chairs and cube and wedged them between the dishwasher and the fridge to get the whole cycle to complete. This meant a difficult hurdle when I wanted to use the kitchen during the wash cycle, and I also couldn't get access to the fridge.
Mom volunteered yet again to wait for the repair guy on his third visit, when part in hand, he fixed the dishwasher properly. It cost me another $96, which was really annoying, but at least the dishwasher was fixed.

The next morning, I came downstairs to get ready for work, and found the chairs and cube set up like the photo above. I almost flipped, thinking that DH had tried to run the dishwasher the night before and it hadn't worked! Turns out, it had just become a habit for him to set up the chairs and he had forgotten that the dishwasher was fixed. What a relief when he told me that!

Richmond Fair

2010-09-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

We have been going to the Carp Fair on and off for the last 7 years or so. It's close by and in September, like all good fall fairs. I've always enjoyed it except for the fact that the Carp Fairgrounds are dirty and dusty.

When I was little, I always went to the Richmond Fair and I remembered that it was grassy, so we tried it out this year. It had all of the same things as the Carp Fair, but it was cool and mostly on grass. The kids enjoyed the rides and Mr. Boy was really into the games this year. He did really well on one and won twice in a row.

We had junk food for lunch and watched a bit of the horse shows.

Sweet Pea on the slide.
Sweet Pea is a thrill seeker and she loved the scrambler. I loved it too, but my neck started hurting by the end!
Mr. Boy playing the games.
Precious had her face painted like a cat.
The girls went on one of the kiddie rides.
Sweet Pea got the Princess face.
And she got a pony ride.
And so did Mr. Boy.We enjoyed our day and we'll definitely go back.

Chips are Good

2010-09-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

Yummy.
So yummy.

A little too yummy!

Fall is in the Air

2010-09-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

When the air gets chilly in the morning, and the kids go back to school, and fall starts to arrive, I inevitably get the nesting instinct.

I subscribe to Canadian House and Home and Style at Home magazines.

I watch HGTV. A lot.

And I dream about furniture, painting my house a new colour, and tearing down walls or re-configuring rooms from time to time.

So when my co-worker told me about a Habitat for Humanity house tour, I was confused. A Habitat for Humanity house in her upscale neighbourhood? She pointed me to the website and explained the story to me. Here it is as it appears on the website.

"Recently, Habitat for Humanity-NCR received the biggest donation in our history; a nice home in a great neighbourhood. Our plan is to turn this gift into a major marketing campaign and capital funding drive. We plan to renovate the home (it has been untouched since it was built in the 60’s) using our very talented volunteer design pool in the Nation’s Capital. In the early summer, we will have open houses (over the course of four weekends) for public viewing, before we sell the home. It is our hope that, with the sale of this home, the special events and the Capital Campaign, we will raise $1,000,000. That translates into the ability for Habitat for Humanity-NCR to house 10 new, low-income working families."

Since then, a lot of work has been done, and the house is on the market for well over a million dollars. What was once a traditional home from the 60's, built by the same builder as my house no less, is now a modern and stylish family home in a nice neighbourhood. Since they're charging $10/person for the open house, I hope they make even more money for this worthy charity.

New Daycare

2010-09-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

Our nanny's last day was Thursday. She's been with us almost two years. She took care of the older two kids after school and all summer, and she took care of Precious all afternoon, as she was in half days at school and preschool the last two years.

Jenny is a wonderful and caring childcare provider. Precious loved all the cuddles and reading that Jenny did with her. She and Jenny even took the city bus together to school some days.
It was no problem for Jenny to find another job. My girlfriend was looking for one for the end of her maternity leave until her son starts Montessori. Live-out nannies are hard to find so my friend is happy, and Jenny will be thrilled to have a little boy to play with and cuddle.

The older kids start their new daycare today. They're going to my friend's place every day after school. It's about 1 km on foot, there are a couple of grade 3's going there, and it's right beside Precious' school-provided daycare.

I feel so excited about this new arrangement as the new daycare provider is lovely and I know the kids will love being with other kids after school.

I'll be taking the bus home from work and taking it an extra few stops to get off outside Precious' school, where she is in the before and after school program. Then we'll walk to the other daycare, which is on the way home, and walk the rest of the way home together. Mondays should be 'interesting' as Precious starts piano at 5:30, giving us very little time to get home and eat.

Walking 2 kms a day will be good for the kids, and I need to remember to bring comfortable shoes!

And today is my first day working full-time since 2005! Wish me luck!

On the Very First Day of School...

2010-09-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

The kids were raring to go on Tuesday. Even Mr. Boy put his clothes out the night before. Sweet Pea has been looking forward to this day almost since school let out in June, and most definitely over the last few weeks.

I had the morning off because we were meeting with Precious' kindergarten teacher at 9:30 that morning. The bonus for me was that I could be with the older two on their first day. The five of us ate breakfast together, made lunches, brushed teeth and hair and headed to school.

The kids didn't need new backpacks or even new school clothes this year, although Sweet Pea got a pair of skinny jeans and some hot pink Converse from Grammy and Mr. Boy got a cobalt blue hoodie.
Of course, there were cars everywhere on the first day. All the buses were late. For us walkers, the first day of school is pretty treacherous and busy compared to a normal day.

Because it was raining, we got to school and the class lists weren't taped to the walls so we could find out the teacher's name and who was in the kids' classes. Odds were that Mr. Boy was going to be in a portable, since in grade 3 now, but I wasn't sure about Sweet Pea.

Turns out Sweet Pea is a grade 2 in a 1/2 split. I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but it does mean she's in the school rather than in a portable.

Mr. Boy is in a class with a few kids he knows, and a teacher with a very good reputation. She sends daily emails to the parents, which is a HUGE change from the teacher he had last year.

My older two kids are very adaptable and the first day of school is fun and exciting for them - as it is for me!

Christine is a Genius

2010-09-04T04:24:00.001-07:00

I was dreaming of my white kitchen with an island but I was stuck in a paradigm where interior (non load-bearing walls) were not removable. Once Christine suggested I 'steal' some space from my dining room so I could get the kitchen I wanted, I got inspired.

My kitchen currently sits in a narrow space behind the stairs, in between the family room and dining room.
By removing the wall between the dining room and the kitchen, and moving the eating area into the former dining room, and moving the dining room into the former family room, it isn't too hard to get an island AND a pantry into my 'new' kitchen. The island is long and narrow, but makes a perfect place to hang out when people are cooking and gives both more counter space and more storage underneath.

The pantry is similar in size to my current pantry, which I use constantly. There's a landing space on BOTH sides of the cooktop, and the dishwasher is located right across from where I would store the dishes, making it a lot easier to load and unload it. Beside the sink, I would have a pull-out drawer so I could have the paper recycling, composting, and plastic recycling, as well as the garbage. The fridge would be accessible to the eating area (for milk refills), and I could have my TV in the eating area for when I'm cooking. My dining room would be much bigger than it is now, which is great since I have a HUGE dining room table which easily sits 12. It's actually my brother's, but I'm borrowing it.

Since the dining room would be too big, I would love to steal a few feet from it expand my mud room and/or put in a small workshop, but I don't want to give DH a heart attack just yet, so let's not talk about that right now.

We have an over-sized living room which we are currently using as a dining room. It has our piano and a wood-burning fireplace, and it would be perfect as our family room. I wonder what it would do to re-sale to remove the separate living room and family room and instead have the same amount of space re-configured from three rooms to two.

Since this is still just for fun, although DH jokingly gave me the go-ahead on the project last night - if I can get it done for $7,000 - many of the details would change, but I can see the overall space would work.

I could still have a lot of fun tweaking the locations of appliances and drawers, deciding what kind of uppers I would have (ie. glass doors, open shelving, no uppers, etc.), thinking about a backsplash, figuring out where dishes, pots, glasses, etc. would go, but I'm happy to have this basic plan worked and to dream.

I'm Dreaming of a White Kitchen

2010-08-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

I don't really need a new kitchen. My 'old' kitchen is from the 90's, and we did a mini-update with new handles, countertop and backsplash about 6 years ago.

It's a nice-looking kitchen, BUT there are a few things that really annoy me about it.

The lighting stinks. We have two huge flood lights that make the room hot.

The fridge/freezer is tiny (18 cubic feet for 5 people - are you kidding me???) It came with our old house when there were only two of us.
We don't have enough room for compost/paper recycling/plastic recycling and garbage under the sink.
The dishwasher needs to be duct-taped and propped closed to work.The bars holding some of the fridge door items in are broken and have been replaced by a bungee cord. Classy.
The floor is cream with teal and pink highlights!
The oven runs about 25 - 50 degrees hotter than I think it does so everything cooks in less time and/or burns.
The hood fan over the stove doesn't exhaust outside, although it hardly matters as it's broken too! It turned on spontaneously one day and the only way to shut it off was at the fuse box.
The only logical place to store the dishes is immediately above the aforementioned dishwasher and you cannot load the dishes in the cupboard when the dishwasher door is open so everything has to be unloaded to the counter first, then the cupboard.
There's no island or anywhere for people to hang out when we're entertaining.
The under-counter lighting is flaky and will turn on and off spontaneously, plus the apron that covers the lighting comes down so low that the back of the counter-top is basically inaccessible.

What I do like about my kitchen

The skylight.
The back splash.
The pantry built into one wall.
The sink overlooking the backyard.
The double sink and single-handle faucet.
The big pot drawers which we use for tupperware, small appliances and spices.
The lazy susan in the corner cupboard.

The IKEA catalogue came recently. I noticed all the wonderful kitchen ideas in it, and had already downloaded the kitchen planner, so I plugged in the particulars of my own kitchen and started playing with the cabinetry. What I could come up with? Could my kitchen actually fit an island? Or at least a peninsula? Could I make it look anything like the kitchen in the movie Something's Gotta Give?
I played with a bunch of configurations. In one, I even got my dreamed-of island (at the expense of a big fridge and a pantry). Since I captured these images of my white kitchen in the IKEA kitchen planner, I've gone through at least 5 other changes, including making all the upper cabinets black or making all the lower cabinets black, or just the pantry, etc. It's still black and white, but just different amounts of each.
If we did put in this kitchen, some other things on my wishlist are:
hardwood flooring with perhaps a tile 'mat' near the sink
a little flat screen TV easily visible to the cook
a place to put the laptop while I'm cooking or for kids to play on the computer at the kitchen peninsula.

A girl can dream, can't she?

End of Summer Bowling

2010-08-27T16:14:00.001-07:00

The summer is almost over. The weather is cooling off at nights and I find myself wearing a jacket occasionally. School starts in another week.

This summer, I had a list of things to do with the kids.
Cottage
Water Park
Camping
Pony Ride
Petting Zoo
Mini Putt/Driving Range
Bowling

We didn't make it to the water park this year, but maybe next year.

We've done the cottage and camping, the petting zoo and mini putting and the driving range.

Ever since we got the Wii and played Wii bowling, Sweet Pea has wanted to try 'real' bowling.

We finally made it on Wednesday. We got there just after 10 a.m., since Precious had speech therapy at 1:00 (which ended up being canceled by the SLP).

Sweet Pea was hoping for loud music, which she got. It was a bonus that they had black lights and cool shoes that glowed in the lights. We all had fun bowling. Mr. Boy was pretty good at it, as was Sweet Pea. Precious was hopeless at first, but was able to bowl independently by the 8th or 9th frame. The kids wanted to stay longer, but we had to get home for lunch.

Now I want to organize a bowling tournament!

A Week in the Muskokas

2010-08-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've been out of commission on the blogging front because I took three weeks of vacation and was out of town for much of it.

My first week off, we were lucky enough to get an invitation for to stay at our friend Bob and Sheila's family cottage.

The cottage was originally Sheila's grandmother's, and it's in a community of cottages that shares a beach, volleyball court, play structure, boat launch, etc. The cottage itself is rustic (ie. no potable water and only an outhouse). It's one of those classic cottages with hand-me-downs, and quirks about it. It was perfectly suited for the two families and was wonderfully comfortable.
The boys slept in a tent outside and the girls shared a small bedroom with bunk beds and a single. DH and I were lucky enough to have a nice room with a double futon. Surprisingly, I've never had less back/neck issues than I did that week as the futon mattress was firm and perfect for me. Bob and Sheila shared the other 'big' bedroom.
The family has a canoe and a motor boat (and now a kayak!) so Bob and DH took the girls for a boat ride to one of the islands on Lake Vernon. They were gone a long time and based on the photos they brought back, they had a great time.
The weather and the beach were just perfect. There was shade at the beach, muskoka chairs and picnic tables, as well as a play structure, and lots of sand and water toys. There was a big, metal slide for sliding into the water, and a raft pretty far out, with a diving board. The kids loved getting noodles and heading out to the raft. Precious loved making sand castles with the other girls.
In the cottage, there was lots of reading and playing of games. Guess Who was particularly popular. Mr. Boy and Duncan took turns reading pages from Harry Potter 4. I was knitting a lot and the adults read the paper and various books in the evenings.
One day, the boys went to the community association's cliff jumping spot and jumped off the 'small' and 'medium' rocks. I'm glad I didn't get to see it! It was really high! On the last day, the boys jumped again, although Mr. Boy said the medium rock made his stomach feel funny and he didn't want to do it.
But that didn't stop DH from trying it!
Or Duncan!
On the second last night, we watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs at the beach, with free popcorn.

On the second last day, the community association had their annual fun day. There was face painting and old fashioned games.

Earlier in the week, we had gone to Bob's sister's cottage for the day. She's on the exclusive Lake Rosseau, home of celebrities and sports figures. Her cottage was beautiful, completely wood inside and out, and perched on a cliff with a wraparound deck, and stairs and decks all the way down (way down) to the water.

Bob's sister has three young girls, so add my three and Bob and Sheila's and it was 8 kids between 8 years and 2 years.
Here are all the kids starting supper on the top deck, with DH admiring the panoramic view.
The bottom deck.We had a wonderful time in Lake Vernon and hopefully we'll get invited back!

Camping Goodness!

2010-08-21T13:26:00.001-07:00

DH couldn't afford to take any vacation time. I, on the other hand was not satisfied with having taken only one camping trip so far this summer, and I get more vacation than DH, so I asked my dad, who is retired, if he'd accompany the kids and me on a camping trip. He was so keen, he mistook the date of our trip and was ready and packed up a month early!

Once we got the dates straightened out, everything else was pretty smooth sailing. The kids were up and ready to go on Wednesday. I had packed everything the night before and had DH help me load the car before he left for work.

The trip took close to three hours with a long break at Tim Horton's part way, and we arrived on a warm and sunny afternoon. Dad had been there a few hours already. We hit the beach and checked out the adjacent play structure. The park had a great setup, a little store, and we were really close to the 'comfort stations' (euphemism for flush toilets and running water).Dad helped me set up the campsite and he gets an 'A' for effort as he was always asking how he could help throughout the three days. It was really handy having another adult around when trips to the bathroom, store (to get ice for the cooler) or back to the campsite were warranted. Dad had his little tent and Mr. Boy slept in there with him. I had the girls in my mammoth tent.On the second day, the kids and I took a hike through the woods. There was a bit of rain, but not too much. Throughout the three days, we had campfires, and cooked marshmallows, made s'mores, swam, made sand castles, read and played. Dad brought his canoe and took Mr. Boy fishing. They caught lots of fish but threw them all back. The five of us all took a short canoe ride, but it was pretty windy that day, so we didn't get far before we decided to turn back.
Mr. Boy checking out the water (below).
Gramps reading to Precious by the fire.
Sisters playing at the beach on the last morning.We ran into a girl on Sweet Pea's soccer team and her twin brother at the campground. The kids all played together quite a lot and it made the trip even more fun for them.

Dyed in the Wool Again

2010-07-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

I've been dying my hair one way or r another for the better part of 23 years. I first started with the "Frost & Glow" kit where you put on a cap, pulled out strands of hair, applied the dye which foamed and got hot, and ended up with spaghetti-like blond streaks. In the late 80's, I was totally working those streaks and I still stand by the fact that they were stylish at the time. As were my 'tall' bangs.

In my early 20's, I stuck with blond highlights, only occasionally messing up a home job, and started seeing professional hairstylists for colour once in a while. About 1992, I ended up finding a stylist who gave me an amazing haircut or two in a row. It was then that my love affair of great hairdresser began. The compliments I got on my hair were only the icing on the cake. I felt great with my great haircut. I started paying more for haircuts. After all, what else do you wear every day?

In my late 20s, I was still getting blond highlights, but by the time I turned thirty, I was into lowlights, and reds and even going for an allover colour. I was convinced that the red I chose was so natural looking that no one would believe it was dye. I'll never know if people actually bought it or not, but I know for sure that the colour suited me.

Once the kids came along, I stuck with my pricey and frequent trips to the salon for foil (never cap!) highlights in at least two, if not three colours - one lighter, one darker and one reddish tone. I also opted for a pixie-ish cut and had my hair quite short for a few years. It was harder to find the time to get my hair done, but I was addicted to 'good' hair.

When I was on bedrest for my third child, I couldn't very well go for haircuts or colour, so I saw it as an opportunity to grow out my pixie and my colour. After almost two years, I had all natural hair. Virgin hair, if you will. I grew it and grew it as long as I could, while still getting trims here and there to maintain a semblance of style.

Only problem is, my hair is thin and fine. Not fun. My natural dark blonde/light brown hair was pretty plain against my pale skin. I dreamed of looking like Lauren Graham or Emily Blunt. Dark hair, pale skin and blue eyes.

I finally took the plunge back in February and dyed my hair darker. After two applications of the chestnut colour, I used copper twice, and finally, back to the chestnut again. I've dyed my hair about once a month since then.

I was getting a little tired of the angled bob I'd had since last September and decided to go shorter. I wasn't ready for a pixie cut again, but settled on a short-in-back, long-on-top cut. I was in tears when I got home from the hairdresser. The way she styled my hair was hideous. I got home and immediately washed my hair. I've had about 5 chances to style it at home myself and it has looked different each time, but I really like it. I went to the gym, showered, and put in some mousse, then dried my hair a bit, and it turned out great. I'm so glad I don't need to spend 10 minutes with the hairdryer and my round brush anymore.

Mini-Putt and the Driving Range and Other Summertime Diversions

2010-07-24T06:38:00.001-07:00

"I'm bored"
"Can I play Wii? Pleeeeease!"
"Can I invite someone over?"

I can't tell you how many times I've heard these expressions at my house since summer vacation started.On my list of things to do with the kids this summer is bowling, mini-putt, pony riding and the petting zoo, so I decided to take the kids mini-putting yesterday morning, after we took the cat to the vet for her leukemia booster.

It was misting a little, but the kids weren't deterred and said that we could just bring raincoats rather than call off the whole trip. I like that 'can-do' attitude!

The mini-putt course was deserted, so each kid picked a ball and a putter and they were so excited, they were running all over the place. Each of the kids (even Precious, who is 4) got a hole-in-one, and it was pretty exciting. I asked Precious if she was happy that she got one and she said "I so proud". It was adorable.After mini-putting, the kids really wanted to go to the driving range. I got them a small bucket of balls to share and I told them to be really, really careful. I could just picture one of them getting a driver to the head on a back swing. Ouch.

They did pretty well, even though no amount of reasoning could convince Mr. Boy that he had his hands reversed. You'd think that since he plays baseball, he'd know how to hold his hands. Sweet Pea hit some balls out to the 25 yard marker, and Mr. Boy got to the 50.All the balls that Precious hit are still visible in this photo, and the older two collected them all up and hit them again.
After mini-putting, we went to Harvey's and got lunch. Mr. Boy had a friend coming in the afternoon, and after he left, we went to the library. When we got back, the kids were happy to read their books while I made shepherd's pie for supper.

After supper, DH went to the neighbour's to 'jam' and I watched It's Complicated, which I really enjoyed. It was funny and romantic, and the houses in Nancy Meyers' movie are always amazing. The kitchen in the movie was gorgeous! I love the black window frames and the neutral colour scheme.
I still covet the decor in the gorgeous beach house in Nancy Meyers' Something's Gotta Give?
The Something's Gotta Give kitchen is probably still my favourite kitchen, ever.

How I Know My Husband Is Smokin' Hot

2010-07-19T15:11:00.001-07:00

How do I know my husband's smoking hot? I saw it with my own two eyes.
He broke out the smoker we got him for Christmas, set the whole darn thing up, and smoked us some pretty fine ribs. (This must be said with a southern U.S. accent)

DH is a man who takes meat seriously. Coming from Eastern Europeans on both sides, he knows a thing or two about sausages, ribs, steak, etc.

A couple of weeks back, we tried the smoker and we ended up with some pretty smoky ribs and pork tenderloin. They were good, but nothing special. After figuring out where to improve, DH set up the smoker around noon and we were treated to some tasty ribs for supper last night.
Pork ribs seasoned with a spicy rub, and homemade BBQ sauce. The ribs turned out a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet, meaty, juicy, and delicious.

Yummy and smokin' hot. And the ribs were good, too.

Metric

2010-07-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

We went to see Metric last night, along with thousands and thousands of others. Last year at Bluesfest, DH and I went to the concert sans kids. Metric is one of my favourite bands, and the kids like them, too so we couldn't very well leave them at home this year.

We had to leave Gary and Hilary's wedding reception early (their real wedding was in Mexico in the winter), and we got to Bluesfest in time to see a few other acts before Metric. The kids ate at the festival, and DH and I had shwarma there, too. By 7:00, the kids were getting tired, so we sat on our blanket and watched the show from pretty far back. I have to say I preferred it last year, where we could see Emily Haines' facial expressions and see her aerobic-type moves. Last year, we just watched, but this year, I filled up the water bottle and took someone to the bathroom during the 60 minute show.
On Friday night, the night before the show, DH was out at Bluesfest with our neighbour, so I stayed home and was inspired to make the whole family Metric t-shirts with some fabric paints and some plain shirts I bought a few years ago. The shirts turned out great and quite a few people noticed them and commented on them. The kids, especially Sweet Pea were thrilled.

Sweet Pea even matched the writing on her shirt with her pants.
Mr. Boy and Precious dancing during Metric.
Remind me to take posing lessons before I get my picture taken again! LOL!
DH claims to like his metric shirt enough that he'll wear it again.
The kids were zonked when we got home. Taking them to Bluesfest is so much fun and they were free to get in!

Canada Day, Interrupted

2010-07-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

I had fun at my mom and Mike's Canada Day party, while I was there. During the day, we were all a little tired and decided not to go downtown. The kids were offered the chance to have a nap in the afternoon and then we would let them stay up to watch the fireworks. No takers.

DH brought us out to my mom's, for 4 but Mr. Boy was complaining more and more about his sore ear. He hadn't mentioned it the day before, but within 12 hours or so, it went from "0 to 60". He'd been swimming 5 times in three days, and had a runny nose.
I called the doctor, and the after hours support and no one was available, so Mr. Boy and I headed out to the emergency room of a small town hospital near my mom's. Tyler and Anne Marie watched the girls as DH was playing hockey. I'd heard the wait times were more manageable there than at the city hospitals, and it was true. We checked in around 6:00 p.m. and were seen around 7:15. p.m . Part of the delay was the 7:00 shift change.

After the doctor confirmed that Mr. Boy had a terrible ear infection, worthy of calling the resident to come and see his bulging ear drum, we got a prescription, and a warning for Mr. Boy not to go swimming until his ear is better. I knew he had an ear infection, but I wasn't sure we'd be able to get our hands on the antibiotics the doctor prescribed since it was a holiday. Mr. Boy was inconsolable since he didn't want to miss swimming lessons the next day.

Luckily, the pharmacy in the town was open, even though it was 7:30 p.m. on Canada Day, but I believe Mr. Boy's ear drum ruptured around the same time because his ear started feeling better about 1 minute after he took some ibuprofen and antibiotics, and the doctor had told us 20 minutes earlier that it looked like it was about to rupture and that it would feel better after.

So Mr. Boy missed swimming on Friday, but since DH was working from home, they both stayed home, and Mr. Boy got a good dose of XBox.

Now I have to figure out what a 'better' ear looks like so I can decide if Mr. Boy is fit for swimming lessons tomorrow. I also bought two different kinds of ear plugs for him to try and he will definitely wear one tomorrow.

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-01T10:49:00.001-07:00

Happy Canada Day everyone! We're having some rather cool weather, but it's nothing wearing a jacket and some pants can't fix.
We're off to a party at my mom's this afternoon. The older kids were offered a trip to the fireworks if they had a nap this afternoon but neither wanted to participate.
Because of the time of year, it gets dark really late right now, so the fireworks wouldn't be until around 10:00. They would be spectacular, but I know we all would have paid for it tomorrow with some cranky kids.

First Camping Trip of 2010

2010-06-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

We were going camping last Friday, and we didn't have a tent anymore, so we had to go out and buy a new one on Wednesday after the kindergarten graduation. We have a little four-person tent, but those things never fit as many people as they say, plus there are 5 of us, so we splurged on a nice dome tent with a vestibule that we hope will last us for the next 10 -15 years. We used it this weekend and it truly fits 5 comfortably and the vestibule was really handy for keeping the tent clean as well as keeping our clothes in the tent but not underfoot.

The vestibule can be set up with an awning, or the fly can be rolled back so the vestibule's fully exposed, or the fly can be brought right down to the ground for complete protection from rain.
We arrived at the campsite around 7:00 on Friday. We had already set up the tent in the basement, just to make sure everything worked properly and to get an idea of how big it is. It's huge, by the way, and at 27 pounds, it'll definitely only be for car camping trips.

It rained quite a bit on Saturday, but the fly goes down right to the ground, and the floor was dry inside, even if our sleeping bags and pillows were a little damp due to the humidity in the air.

We also ended up in town on Saturday to buy a new sleeping bag for DH since his zipper broke. I ended up buying a double sleeping bag that also separates in two singles. I thought it might be hard to find two compatible sleeping bags otherwise.
We had a great time, and the kids didn't want to leave. We went for a walk after supper on Saturday, and explored the multiple beaches at the campground. We found a great play structure and played for a while, then headed back for a campfire and s'mores. The kids were in bed before 10 both nights, so the adults had time to hang out by the fire for a bit. We left on Sunday in time to get home, throw on some laundry and make it to soccer practice for 6:30.

Strawberries and Graduation

2010-06-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Our veggie garden is thriving. I've only watered it once as it has rained pretty much every day for about three weeks but there's been sun too, so everything's growing. I have green tomatoes, and my pumpkins, cucumbers and corn are all doing well. We had a good feed of strawberries this year. We picked them before the animals wanted to eat them, which meant they had to ripen in the house. Since we only got one berry last year, this worked out much better. The kids loved helping pick the berries and we all enjoyed eating them.
In the last week, there were lots of end-of-year school activities. The highlight was Precious junior kindergarten graduation and Sweet Pea's performance in the Three Little Pigs.

Here's Precious feeling shy.
And later on, after their performance of songs in French and English, she had a snack, then posed with her teachers. Miss Margaret taught her math and science.
And Miss Linda taught her language arts. Both teachers were very sweet, kind and consistent with Precious all year and taught her well. We will miss them next year.Sweet Pea rocked the grade one performance of the Three Little Pigs in the school library. She definitely has rhythm, that one.
Mr. Boy and Sweet Pea finished school on Friday and all three kids started summer swimming lessons today. I am already realizing that we need to find some more activities to keep the kids busy this summer.

Awakenings

2010-06-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

The kids got a hold of a digital camera the other day (our old point and shoot) and took a bunch of pictures when our nanny was home with them. The photos were adorable but what I noticed is how cluttered everything looked, especially the office. I've read time and time again that if you want to decorate a room, you should take a picture of it to help you make decisions.Well, seeing the photo of the office was a wake-up call. It's nowhere near as stylish as I hoped it would be when we got custom bookshelves made for it, painted the walls my favourite colour ever - Buckhorn by Benjamine Moore, got new window treatments and splurged on a modern black glass deck. In fact, it looks like H E double hockey sticks.

What is currently in the room?
two electronic piano keyboards
two desks
three chairs (one broken)
a box of office things I'll bring to work if I ever drive in (I take the bus)
my tripod
an old filing cabinet
papers, papers and more papers
pictures in frames
a wire organizer with school projects and mementos to file
some scrapbook organizers which hold takeout menus, and medical files
a kids' drum set
and don't get me started on the bookshelves, which are about 10 feet wide! They're overflowing with books and magazines, and a few knickknacks.

A few friends were coming over last night, so I pulled out all of the books that I have read but was willing to give away, and managed to find new homes for a few of them. Then another acquaintance came by, and since she had just bought a camping trailer, and was looking for some books to read in the evenings on camping trips, she took the rest of the books!
I have fond memories of most of the books, but the reality is that I don't usually read books more than once, and I can always borrow them from the library if I want to read them again.

I am happy to see the books go. The bookshelf is just the tiniest bit neater. I will be working on making that office neater over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully I will have an 'after' picture to show you sometime this summer!