Life Changes After Birth

2012-01-15T20:19:00.001-07:00




Parenting Styles Info From BetterParenting.com

Who is Santa?

2011-12-20T19:13:00.004-07:00

This is worth keeping for future reference:

from: http://www.cozi.com/live-simply/truth-about-santa

A few months back, the Tooth Fairy got busted. She left a note for Alice up on her computer, and Lucy figured the whole business out. The Tooth Fairy cursed her need to write notes in elaborate fonts and tried to come up with a cover story, but it didn’t fool Lucy.
To her credit, Lucy has kept the secret from her little sister, who still hasn’t lost a tooth and deserves to wake up with money under her pillow.
But the Tooth Fairy knew it couldn’t be too long before Santa was similarly unmasked. She didn’t know when or how, but she knew the days of magic in her house, at least magic of a certain sort, were coming to an end.
And the Tooth Fairy—by which I mean myself—was pretty darned sad about the inevitable, which finally arrived last week.
Lucy and I have been exchanging notes since the school year started. We’ve talked about all sorts of things—sports, books we’d like to read, adventures we’d like to have, even stories from when I was in third grade. For the most part, though, it’s been light, casual stuff. Until last week.
I NEED TO KNOW, she wrote, using capital letters for emphasis. ARE YOU SANTA? TELL ME THE TRUTH.
What do you do when your kid asks for the truth? You tell it, of course, doing your best to figure out a way that keeps at least some of the magic intact.
Here’s what I wrote:

Dear Lucy,
Thank you for your letter. You asked a very good question: “Are you Santa?”
I know you’ve wanted the answer to this question for a long time, and I’ve had to give it careful thought to know just what to say.
The answer is no. I am not Santa. There is no one Santa.
I am the person who fills your stockings with presents, though. I also choose and wrap the presents under the tree, the same way my mom did for me, and the same way her mom did for her. (And yes, Daddy helps, too.)
I imagine you will someday do this for your children, and I know you will love seeing them run down the stairs on Christmas morning. You will love seeing them sit under the tree, their small faces lit with Christmas lights.
This won’t make you Santa, though.
Santa is bigger than any person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived. What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to have belief in something they can’t see or touch.
It’s a big job, and it’s an important one. Throughout your life, you will need this capacity to believe: in yourself, in your friends, in your talents and in your family. You’ll also need to believe in things you can’t measure or even hold in your hand. Here, I am talking about love, that great power that will light your life from the inside out, even during its darkest, coldest moments.
Santa is a teacher, and I have been his student, and now you know the secret of how he gets down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve: he has help from all the people whose hearts he’s filled with joy.
With full hearts, people like Daddy and me take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible.
So, no. I am not Santa. Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness. I’m on his team, and now you are, too.
I love you and I always will.
Mama

2011-09-04T15:13:00.001-06:00

Quiet

It's a beautiful, quiet afternoon at my house. Ben, the girls and 12 other parents/kids have gone out to float down the Elbow river, a very popular pastime on hot, summer days. I am enjoying the sheer calm that has settled over my house in their absence.
However, I am rocking that calm by reading a library book entitled "The Gap Year: a novel by Sarah Bird. All about a single-mum and her daughter, having just turned 18 and slated to head out into the big world to attend college and how that does not seem to want to happen. And how the daughter, once the mum's biggest fan, bestest friend and all that, hates her mother now. Hates everything about her, and will not talk to her or explain or answer. And I want to get my girls to write a letter saying something along the lines of: "I know I love you, mum, you are my biggest advocate, and I will always come back to you, make safe decisions and let you know where I am - even when I'm 14, 15, 16, 17, or 18. I promise."
Because that age is terrifying me already.

2011-08-31T19:13:00.002-06:00

Chance of frost in Banff tonight. Please note date.

2011-08-31T07:35:00.000-06:00

So odd

Two nights ago, it was so hot in the upstairs, shared bedroom of les filles, that I set up and turned onto high, both of our portable fans. The room did not cool down until the next day, mostly as a result of the new, morning temperature - 9 degrees. So, from 30 degrees to 9 in less than 18 hours. That's odd but happens on a more frequent than not frequent level here in Cowtown. This morning, it's jeans, socks, sweaters and raincoats on the last day of summer hols. Kids are going to be dis-a-poin-ted with the lack of sun, swimming and slip-and-sliding before they return to school.

2011-08-30T14:53:00.000-06:00

No, no, NOT the piriformis again

This past year has been a tricky one for me with regards to running and swimming. My unexplained GI issues over the past 18 months pretty much caused most physical activity to ground to a halt - nothing like all those lovely GI symptoms to make you not want to put on a swimsuit or start making your body bounce up and down! And despite having next-to-every-test known to try to figure it out, GI doc says it's IBS. Which is helpful, but not really. If you know what I mean. As in, what can one do for IBS, besides try to not be stressed and try to cut out trigger foods. I couldn't figure out which were the trigger foods until recently I just got fed up and cut out gluten. Entirely. And after about 2 weeks of doing so, things seemed to settle down, with the occasional hiccup caused by who-knows-what, because gluten creeps into just SO much food that is out there. And I do my best to avoid as much in the way of processed foods, but it's hard. Right?
And what does this have to do with my piriformis? Well, I picked up the running a few weeks back but wasn't too sensible about my approach and started like this: speed work, 5k run (which I nearly killed myself doing - okay bit of an exaggeration but when one's lungs hurt for 2 days after the event, overdoing it was the verdict), speed work, 12k long run, short run, 14k long run and then the piriformis goes HEY! REMEMBER ME?!!! TAKE IT EASY, YOU NUMNUT. Time to lie on the sacro-wedgy again.

2011-08-29T13:26:00.000-06:00

RIP Jack Layton, 1950-2011

2011-08-08T15:41:00.002-06:00

Another moment that makes you go hmmm
Clara sat and read my "Bible for Children" for close to 2 hours, came down, complained about her sore neck, went back upstairs and returned dressed as a sheik/Egyptian person (complete with pippa's white blankie on her head and black skirt and long-sleeved black velvet top). She then sat outside in the 30 degree sun and ate her lunch.

I should have taken a photo.

2011-03-31T12:02:00.000-06:00

My BMI vs BAI results
This is the newest way to determine, from one's general measurements, your level of fat and health. Nice to know that I'm normal and healthy!

BMI Result
At 1.702 m tall and 61.69 kg your BMI is:
BMI = 21.3 kg/m2

BMI Weight Status
Below 18.5 Underweight
18.5 – 24.9 Normal
25.0 – 29.9 Overweight
30.0 and Above Obese

Formula for BMI

BAI Result
At 1.702 m tall and hip 91.44 cm, your BAI is:
BAI = 23.2% body fat

Status BAI Male
20 to 40 BAI Female
Underweight < 8% < 21%
Healthy 8 to 19% 21 to 33%
Overweight 19 to 25% 33 to 39%
Obese > 25% > 39%

Formula for BAI

2011-03-30T20:45:00.000-06:00

Man, that Yahoo is tenacious
After many years of having a yahoo.com email address, I have finally terminated the account (and it was hard to do so!) and so, if you happen to have that email somewhere in your address book, be forewarned, it is going bye-bye.

2011-03-21T07:28:00.000-06:00

Tiff-of-the-many-hats

That's what it seems like, these days. Mostly I still wear my mum hat, but that is currently being chased for first place by my Impact Events hat (that's the part-time, event planning work I've been doing since January), and then there's my Indulge hat (the social event of the year, held in our community, and I've been on the planning committee now for 2 years), and then there's my Fundraising cap (it's a cap now because I've made it through the biggies and what's left is the parent social to plan for October 2011- hoping my IE hat will help me there) and finally, a tiny beenie worn for Pippa's preschool end-of-year party in June. And I'm pretty bad for forgetting where my hats are, never mind which one is currently on my head. But I seem to manage, ping-ponging from here to there.

2011-01-17T19:03:00.001-07:00

Did I mention that I started working?

A good pal down the street has her own Events Planning company, mostly planning conferencey type things, workshops, seminars etc. Now this friend hadn't been able to come out to play for some time due to her major swampedness in the work department. Which is not good, because she is a fun gal (owner of the hot tub that I have spent many, many hours dehydrating myself, in more ways than one). So, after some discussions, I committed to working for her 2 days per week, minimum. I work from home, have childcare two afternoons each week to keep the kids out of my hair and space (basement office, not optimal but free in cost and the only real option in our house) and a lovely woman who comes once a week (Fridays) to hang out with Pippa and clean our house when Pippa's at preschool (sweet! finally, I get a cleaning lady!). So, I've been working and it's been going very well. Now I'm trying to figure out just what I can fit in on top of the work. I've recently signed up to become a reading tutor at Clara's school, and hope to (finally) start that on Wednesday. I continue to coordinate all the fundraising at Clara's school and will probably do it again next year. I also try to swim a couple of times a week, yoga and run (snort snort, when was the last time I did either of those, although it's been so bitterly cold since the new year, the idea of heading outside to go anywhere not absolutely required to simply survive just does not appeal. And do my fair share of shuttling kids to school, swimming, dance and music. Not a ton of time for the other things I love to do (read, knit, bake) but so far it's okay. And I always have time for a glass of vino!

2011-01-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

A new word in French

Just learned that sosie is the French word for doppelganger. Probably not exactly, but that's the best I could come up with when hunting for Linda who looks like Celine for a work project.

2011-01-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Now! Comments! An Option! For you! Use it!
I've turned off the odd choice I made some months ago to only allow blog members to comment. Don't ask, I cannot tell you why I did this. Sorry and tell me how you feel now that you can!

2011-01-13T20:04:00.003-07:00

Traveling, traveling, traveling
After our lovely winter trip to Nipika, Ben and I recently had the good fortune to spend a weekend in Chicago for a family wedding (Tony, Ben's younger brother). And we got to do it sans enfants! With muchos planning, our fab friends here shuffled the girls around from a to b to c with only minor hitches (one being the loss of Bobo, Clara's beloved stuffed monkey). We visited with most of Ben's immediate family which was the highlight for me, swam in a gorgeous art deco junior sized olympic pool, walked and walked and walked and just enjoyed time to ourselves.
Shortly, I will head west to Vancouver to hang out at the Pan Pacific with my two oldest bestest buds, Linda from Ottawa and Amy from Vancouver. This is a repeat trip after our hugely fun weekend in Vancouver in September 2009. I'm looking forward to lots of laughing, eating, hanging out in the hot tub on top of the hotel and just enjoying my peeps. Maybe we might go hiking, or sea kayaking, or wine tasting. Maybe, if we need a break from all our relaxing.
And then, less than a week later, the family heads down to Barcelo Los Cabos in Cabo, Mexico. Our first time to Mexico and it's an all-inclusive so it's gonna be fun. Unless there is a bunch of drug-cartel dudes chopping peoples heads off, or gas lines exploding under the hotel lobby. Fingers crossed we get to miss that and there aren't any hurricanes, tornadoes or tidal waves.

2011-01-13T08:17:00.001-07:00

Mornings...
If Clara can make it for another 13 minutes, it will be the first morning this week that there has not been a major breakdown before school.

2011-01-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

How cool is this?!

2010-12-22T11:43:00.002-07:00

A Winter Wonderland
This past weekend, we had the fortunate opportunity to spend it at Nipika Mountain Resort, near Radium BC. A fantastic place that butts up alongside Kootenay National Park but is privately owned, with some 50km of groomed cross-country ski trails, a skating pond, Mount Sledmore and an outdoor hot tub and sauna. Everyone had a great time, our family and the friends that we went with, the Bunz. Sadly, our other great friends, the Vaughn-Honnets were unable to join us. Next year, for them though. It's such a great place to go. Here are the photos that Val and I took between us.

2010-12-16T18:44:00.002-07:00

Full of beans!

The Hamster Dance, by Pippa

2010-12-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Heard today
"Mum, can I have 2 pieces of tape?"
"Sure, but what do you need tape for, Pippa?"
"It's top secret"

2010-12-02T14:37:00.001-07:00

Okay, this is hilarious
I'm not a big cat person, but this will make you giggle, regardless of your feelings for the feline species.

2010-11-22T17:54:00.003-07:00

Cough, cough, splutter, splutter
I cannot, cannot, cannot believe that we have had 6 days of perpetual snow and temperatures in the -double digits. It is ridiculously early for this type of winter storm, whoever! Ugh, kids in boots, snowpants, hats, scarves, mitts, balaclavas...schools with frozen pipes and cold classrooms, cars with all-season tires that do not cut it on the packed, icy roads around here. Ugh. Oh, have I said that already? Yes, we Canadians fixate on the weather. I just read that in the book "After Tehran" by Marina Nemat. This is a follow-up of her debut memoir "Prisoner of Tehran" which I have not read, yet. She was a political prisoner from age 16-18 in Evin prison in Tehran and wrote about it some 20 years after it happened. She moved to Canada some time ago and remarked that Canadians spend a lot of time talking about the weather, thinking about the weather and complaining about the weather. She realized why after her first bitterly cold winter.
Speaking of cold, both Pippa and I have been under the weather for a couple of days now. Pippa stayed home from preschool and we sent the sitter home (with 5 month old baby Emily too) as we didn't want to spread the joy. And it goes without saying, that I stayed home from work as a result too. Funny how that goes. Most often it seems to be the mum who has to scramble to find coverage at work/child care for days off school (non-sick days) etc. Anyway, thankfully my work is flexible and while Pippa was drooling at the idiot box, watching classic Pink Panther episodes, I was able to conduct one of my phone interviews upstairs. And fingers crossed for tomorrow, that I will be able to get into work to do some actual work.
We are sticking around these parts through the holiday season this year, although we are heading west to Nipika Mountain Resort on the 17th of December with two other families for some remote, back-country lodging and cross-country skiing. Apparently it is heaven on earth, according to Margot's dad. If you have the time to look at their gallery of wildlife, there are a few, ahem, 'interesting' visitors that they've received. Yikes!
And then, once Christmas and New Years have expanded our belts, Ben and I are heading off to Chicago the first weekend of January to attend Crazy Uncle Tony's marriage ceremony to Breanna, whom we have not yet met. We are leaving the kids behind, as really? Chicago in January? Gonna be chilly, I'm guessing. So, we have some plans but mostly plan to stick around here for the holidays. How about you?

2010-11-12T14:05:00.003-07:00

It snowed today
And while it was not a lot of snow, it is telling. The air has that brisk chill to it that comes with winters arrival. And I'm looking out the window at the trees that are still decorated in 'spider webs' from Hallowe'en, decorations that need to be stripped down at some point. Time just flies by in my life.
Clara turned seven, and had seven friends over for a 'classic birthday games' party; they played "blow the eyeball/ball", pass the parcel, balloon relay, pass the orange (neck to neck), memory tray and musical islands. I think all the girls had fun (even the hard-sell grade threes!) and pass the parcel was a riot, as it was no-holds-barred style - as in, if you can rip into it and get down to the prize in your turn, go for it! There was paper everywhere, and cries of "no, no, there's red packing tape on this layer!" This year, Clara had saved and gathered enough money to purchase a Leonie, Canadian doll for herself. We just placed the order at the beginning of this week, so thanks to all that sent $$, it was well-spent and well-appreciated! And if anyone is lacking ideas for Christmas gifts, head on over to the website and view all the delightful accessories that can be purchased.
Hallowe'en had Pippa dressed up as Leopard Kitty (second year in a row!) and Clara as Elizabeth I (without the hair and white face makeup).
Ben and I attended our first Hallowe'en party in these parts, a Mad Men themed event. We had to watch an episode to know how we should dress, and it was quite fun tracking down all the bits and pieces to turn ourselves into 1950-1960's era folk. My friend Michelle made it into the photo below at our pre-party stop.

Then, onto Ben's 40th birthday party. Hard to believe that we are getting to that age, as I can clearly recall my dad's 40th birthday party and all those 'old people' that attended it! Ben requested a big party with all his friends from here, so that's what we did, and we had a dress-up party also, only this one was a bit saucier! The theme that Ben chose was Pimps and Ho's and the costumes were hilarious. it was lots of fun, with a disco ball, dancing and lots of giggles. I'm afraid there's a gag order on those photos so can't post any of them here!
We had a chance to watch Pippa's new ballet class and Clara's jazz class, they are both really enjoying these dance lessons but we are finding that Clara has one too many after-school activities, with swim club, dance and music. By the time Thursday's music class rolls around, no one (including me) wants to go. So, something has to end and I think it will be dance.
And there's a quick update for those of you that are interested. I'm afraid this is about the most often I can sit down to type anything. I have been quite busy with a new contract, conducting expert interviews and as the fundraising coordinator at Clara's elementary school. Christmas this year will be a breeze after all the event planning that I've done in the past 6 weeks for work, school and the various birthdays.

2010-09-21T18:50:00.004-06:00

Bye bye summer, you were nice for the two days we knew you
Looking at my last blog post (nearly a month ago), I realize that my excuse for having nothing to say is that the entire city is disappointed, annoyed and downright pissed at the summer weather (or lack thereof) that we've had. And now, it's not even the end of September and we are all wearing parkas, winter boots and mittens in the mornings. Seriously. This bites. I feel like I have cabin fever even though I've been outside, it's just that the weather is sooo rotten, I can't bear to spend much time outside. It's raining all the time, dropping to below freezing at night already (and I'm having to cover my pumpkins in hope that something will survive, grow AND turn orange in the next month) and the forecast has been for snow over night at least once. Ugh. It's so depressing and nearly everyone I meet says it's starting to seriously affect their mood. I, for one, have found myself in more pissy moods than usual (hush now) which I liken to the weather. We keep hoping for an Indian summer but then it rains and our hopes are dashed.

2010-08-26T11:07:00.002-06:00

Sure, I can multi-task, just not all that well.
Yesterday, around updating schedules/calendars, doing a bit of this and a lot of that, I decided it was past time to water my tomato planters so I hooked up the hose to one rain barrel, got the soaker connection attached and left it dripping into the planter. Half a day later, I realized that I'd successfully emptied my entire rainbarrel into one planter. Nicely done!

2010-08-22T11:16:00.004-06:00

Checking things off that list
#7 of my list of things about me is to donate my hair to Hair for Kids or some other amazing organization that creates wigs for women or kids with cancer out of harvested hair. I had just never had enough hair to do it, until now. And on Friday, I had appointments for a hair spa and a cut. And I told Kristen, my stylist, if it was long enough, I wanted it all cut off. And it was. So, here's the before and afters:

2010-08-16T14:39:00.002-06:00

Swim, little fish, swim
What is summer vacation without endless swimming lessons? I don't think it's just my childhood summer memories that are peppered with early morning swim lessons (fyi, June in Quebec isn't warm yet, really mum, July might have been nice!), the one swimsuit that lasted the whole summer that I pretty much lived in, the endless games of cards on the baking hot concrete surrounds at the outdoor pool, and the mandatory 8 lengths that my brother and I had to do if we went to the pool by ourselves. By ourselves. Now that's outta date me.
This summer the girls have taken a lot of swimming lessons, and have done really well in them also. Clara was keen to sign up at the end of the school year for a non-competitive swim club starting in September but it required her to be at the Swimmer 4 level to start - swimmer 4 requires treading for 2 minutes, 50 metres of front and back crawl, whip kick (maybe breast stroke?) as well as more. I don't know what the more is yet because Clara has only just started this morning. She surprised me a month ago when she passed Swimmer 2 on the first try (5 lessons in one week) and then proceeded to pass Swimmer 3 after the third try which brings us to this morning. I'm sure she won't pass it, as it's tricky and a lot more lengths but it will be great practice for her in preparation for that swim club. And best of all, she can wash her hair and shower all on her own, and her preference is without any assistance from mum. Which is just fine by me! Meanwhile, Miss Pippa started in Preschool 2 and has rapidly advanced to Preschool 5 in the same time frame, starting this morning. And as she's still only 4, she cannot advance to Swimmer 1 (or 2) until she turns 6. We might have to investigate other options for the petit poisson Pippa. She's a complete natural and has added jumping off the diving board into the dive tank and swimming to the side without a life jacket to her repertoire of skills. And she swims underwater just like frogs do, without any instruction on how to do it. It's kind of amazing to me to watch her progress so rapidly in this one area. I guess it's true that second kids pick stuff up more quickly from watching the older sibling.

2010-08-13T07:43:00.003-06:00

Some things never change

Do you remember pippa's original bedhead?
Well, this shot is from yesterday morning. Not much difference, except the size of the head!

Dreams

2010-08-13T07:01:00.000-06:00

I have the most psycho crazy far- fetched dreams ever and they are starting to make me wonder. I can remember them in extremely fine detail although sequences are often hard to decipher. It must be that I do my wildest dreaming just before I wake up, hence the ability to recall. It strikes me as a waste somehow, that I can't do more with them, like write a story around them or something but they are so weird, I don't know how they could possibly be turned into anything readable. Seems I'm most creative when I'm asleep.

2010-08-12T14:35:00.001-06:00

Huh?
Me: Pippa, why is your plasma car outside? You know it's an indoor toy?
Clara: The plasma car's name is Fred.
Pippa: The alley's name is Fred too.
Me: Huh?

2010-08-10T13:16:00.004-06:00

Two Macleans down, one to go
My neighbor, Tom, works at the local paper as the Sunday editor (he used to be the entertainment editor, news to which we were thrilled to hear when they moved in, imagining free passes to all the big concerts, tickets to the ballet and the like - but the reality was not even a free paper!). He's an avid read of newspapers and news mags so I made a deal with him to swap my macleans for his sunday paper. And that has meant that I've had to keep up with my macleans reading, no more letting them pile up and reading them all in 4 hours on an afternoon - who am I kidding, that was pre-kids. And despite this motivation, I have still fallen behind by three weeks. I blame this on the World Cup, which set me back one whole month of my life and then the Millenium Trilogy (book and movie), so for me to actually down a couple of Macleans with all this other reading going on is impressive. I think it's because I'm at the swimming pool each morning all week with the girls, sitting and waiting.

MamaT's FitnessReports | RunKeeper

2010-08-08T18:28:00.000-06:00

MamaT's FitnessReports | RunKeeper

2010-08-06T12:01:00.002-06:00

How Clara sleeps
I went in to wake Clara up at about 9:30am and here is what I found.

2010-08-06T11:03:00.004-06:00

So, well, yes.
It seems that what someone told me about how when your kids get bigger and more able, you actually have less time during the awake hours seems to have come true. I cannot find the time to sit down for any duration without being interrupted. And this means that knitting, blogging, phone calls and all those things that take time have flown out the window. I have pockets of free time that equal five or ten minutes and the rest of the day? Who knows where the day goes and what I do. Perhaps it's actually me that is to blame as I have developed Adult ADD and cannot sit and do one thing for longer than 5 minutes. Or that my brain is over-multi-tasked and I am in such multi-mode, I cannot concentrate for longer than 5 or 10 minutes.

I spent part of July working on a contract for Praxis, which involved phone interviews of various members of society to find out their perceptions of a rather large gas company in these parts. I managed to do this with the help of a 13 year old sitter whom the girls liked (although not as much as their previous sitter Tara). And it looks like this work may continue into the fall, so I have to factor that into my fall schedule. Which is turning out to be busy.

We have fit in 3 camping trips this summer, all to different locations (Invermere, BC; Brooks, AB; Trochu, AB) and with different families. They all had their challenges but were overall fun and worth all the packing and planning. Ben and I have divided up the different aspects of getting ready for camping and I am happy with this division of labour - for once I'm not solely in charge of our holidays! We were able to borrow and test out three different family camping tents and found that the last one was the winner, and amazingly, the owners have agreed to sell it to us for an extremely reasonable rate! Bettina and Frederick will be envious because they had borrowed it last summer and really liked it. It is tall enough to stand up in, has a zippered 'wall' to divide the tent into two rooms and the best bit is the fly that creates an enormous vestibule for storage or to sit in if it is raining or too buggy. The biggest challenges to me were the rain, the mosquitoes and the lack of sleep! Oh, and running water. I'm not yet comfortable with my own stink!

Ben is in the process of training to run the Toronto Marathon with his friend, Tim, who is in Dartmouth. They are both training at opposite ends of the country (well, nearly) and then plan to meet and run together in TO, with (hopefully) lots of their buddies watching and cheering them on. Being typical guys, this latter part is not yet organized so if you are reading this and live in TO and know Ben or Tim, get in touch and let them know if you are going to be around at the time of the Marathon (Sunday, October 17th). This is also just after Ben's 40th birthday, so an interesting way for him to celebrate! Ben is getting up there in his runs, having just about reached 25k, which is long way from 42, I know, so we'll have to see how those extra long ones go. He seems to be really exhausted after the run, and I have to remind him that he should pretty much plan to do zippo the rest of the day of his long run to recuperate. Despite this, he keeps trying to plan entire day outings for him and the girls!

Our summer weather has been interesting, with very crappy weather mixed in with the odd couple of warm days. We have had hail and tons of rain, mosquitoes and more rain, and temperatures in the single digits. The furnace has come on, I've left the down duvet on our bed and even wore my winter boots to an early morning swim workout about 3 weeks ago. I have to say it's been the worst summer I can remember for warmth and sun, although it is very green and I'm cutting the grass quite often. We are noticed less dandelions and more clover and lawn spurge patches that are spreading like, well, the weeds that they are. It's a bit frustrating to try to deal with these from a natural, non-chemical option and involves a lot of digging and pulling and a sore back the next day. My perennial garden is still a work in progress and I'm forever wondering what I should move and where and wishing for something taller, bigger, different colour etc. My vegetable garden this summer has been a mixture of success and not. I just picked the oddest mutant carrots ever, and a bunch of oddly shaped beets. I guess I could start a Facebook group for mutated veggies! I also grew some pumpkins and now there is a massive pumpkin patch that is threatening to take over the entire yard. Hopefully we will actually grow some pumpkins and not just prickly leaves and stalks.

The kids have had a number of camps, including an all day multi-sport one for Clara where she learned tennis, t-ball, soccer, climbing and swimming, bike camp for Pippa during which she shed her training wheels at the first class then proceeded to pass two levels during the rest of the week. Both girls have had a number of swimming lessons and are doing well. Pippa is desperately trying to do the front crawl and Clara is nearly up to her Swimmer 4 level that she should be at for her swim club that starts in the fall. The kids have also had plenty of hang-around time with their friends in the 'hood, playing puppies, hide and seek, kick the can, lego, biking and scootering and making mud piles. They have also developed somewhat of a love/hate relationship with each other, which has an inverse relationship to the amount of sleep they have had the previous night. Bedtimes have become nearly non-existent with kids going to sleep after myself and/or ben. Yep, after. So much for 7pm bedtime! We are now hopeful to get a 9pm bedtime, which usually means sleeptimes of anywhere up to 11pm. And that transpires often into a 9am wake-up time, which I shouldn't complain about but which makes for a challenge when a camp or lesson starts at 8:30!

I have been diverted this summer by a couple of marathon events - World Cup and now the Millenium series by Steigg Larsson. My brother sent Ben the first two books for Christmas and he has leisurely read through them, and is about 150 pages into the third. I, however, could not approach them at any kind of slow pace and plowed through the first two in the past 2 weeks and am trying to hold off on book three because I have a couple of other books from the library that I should get through. But it's there, hovering and calling out to me to abandon everything and read, read, read until my eyes cross and I'm a grumpy, crazy mum all the next day! If you have not read these books, boy, beware. They are completely addictive.

And there. I sat here and wrote this long post and it didn't even have any picture filler! And I wasn't too distracted and only got up a couple of times. And there are four 'puppies' running around the house (Clara and Pippa, and Paige and Carter from next door). Are you proud of me?!

2010-07-24T10:55:00.000-06:00

More with the mice
Still the love goes on...and on...and on. You might need to crank your volume to hear Pippa.

2010-07-21T21:49:00.005-06:00

Camping, again?
Did I mention that we went camping again last weekend? We were invited to join two other families at their camping weekend at Kinbrook Island. We left here on Friday afternoon, arriving in the lovely location of Brooks, just north of our final destination around 4 pm. We drove through serious rain and hail storms en route, which was somewhat of a deterrent - as was the Tornado Watch issued for our exact destination location at the time we were set to arrive. Thankfully, the tornado shifted paths and we were no longer in its immediate route. Camping was a fun time, we certainly enjoyed the company we were keeping and the kids had a great time; what I did not enjoy was the baby crying at 6 am across from our site, the dogs barking all evening/night next to us, the partyers and their cussing all night and the smelly pit toilets. I still yearn for a wonderful site that has access to water, decent facilities, privacy, sun and warmth, no all-night revelers and within a days drive of home. Does it exist? I have yet to find out, although a friend tells me we need to head out to Lake O'Hara next year to experience great camping.
Meanwhile, here are the girls with their camping pals, Twins: Rebecca and Julie (in Clara's class - they look alike) and Carter and Paige from next door. We taught them how to play Kick the Can (or beer cans in this case) and they loved it!

Rebecca, Clara, Paige, Julie
Pippa, Carter

2010-07-19T16:07:00.002-06:00

Pippa conquers another big "first"

2010-07-15T10:14:00.001-06:00

Mouse-Sitting
Wait, these are not ours! We are mice sitting while some friends are on holidays for 3 weeks. And boy, let me tell you, these mice have had some lovin'! They have gone from who-cares-if-they-live-or-die mice (actual owners) to can-i-hold-him-listen-to-him-squeak mice (temporary owners). Not sure which the mice prefer! Already I've had to suggest that the mice be given a big break from kids or perhaps they will have to go live at their empty home.

2010-07-02T11:17:00.001-06:00

A bad quality video
But it was taken by Pippa, and perhaps you might be able to see that Clara and her pal, Alex are rock climbing.

2010-06-22T18:24:00.001-06:00

The bears
On our recent camping trip to Radium, BC, we had the great opportunity to watch a mama black bear and her two cubs frolicking road-side. Here's a video that I shot of the cubs doing their best to get back down out of the tree that they had climbed.

The trip was lots of fun - we went with another family and they have two girls the same ages as our two, and all four are friends. Those girls were busy busy busy. Hunting butterflies, looking for bugs, building a fairy community (complete with a library, picnic area and pub!) and eating everything sweet they could get their grubby hands on. We fit in a hike that really counted as a wander down a rocky road where the girls filled their pockets with rocks and the mums spotted wildflowers and strawberries. The dads? Not sure what they were up to, besides chatting. A trip to the beach where Pippa swam in absolutely freezing water and Clara built sand castles with strangers and then off to the Hot Springs rounded out the trip nicely. While they stayed up until 10:30pm both nights (it didn't get dark for another hour), they were both passed out solid by 8pm on Sunday night at home. First time they've made it to sleep in the same room in a long time.

2010-06-17T10:40:00.004-06:00

Where I've been
Well, as I look at my record of workouts on the right side of this fancy-pants new template, I can see that I pretty much stopped doing much around the end of March. And that's due to health reasons. I have been dealing with ongoing GI issues for over 3 months now, combined with a month of surgery recovery (inguinal hernia). This has all put a major damper on my ability and interest in either running or swimming. And this is beginning to weigh me down (in more ways than one!) and bum me out. I need to be moving again and know that I will, it just takes a bit of something to prod me out of this funk. To finish up my health summary, I have been tested for gluten intolerance (neg), lactose intolerance (borderline neg), ulcer (meds made it worse) and recently submitted test for a parasite. I started a food journal to see what causes the issues, and so far have identified raw fruit and vegetables as potential triggers. How weird is that?
While I'm not expending my energies running or swimming, I've been doing a ton of gardening and would love to post some photos but it's pouring with rain outside so that will have to wait until a dry day. I expanded my main perennial bed in the backyard as well as the crabapple tree bed (which has just bloomed and it combined with the array of white, pink and fuschia tulips that I planted around it makes a beautiful greenscape). I've been battling dandelions in the front yard, hoping against hope that my astilbes and coral bells in the front surface sometime this year (worried that they didn't survive for some reason), and taking out paving stones and reseeding grass.
And I've been involved in another Bollywood HipHop class with 10 other ladies from the 'hood. This time though, we didn't make it through the entire song in our 8 class session with the same instructor (Vish) as last time. So, we booked a 2 hour cram dance class with him on Sunday night and have been practicing whenever we can get the majority together (10 busy ladies isn't easy to schedule but Doodle.com is a great tool for that). Our party/performance is scheduled for June 26th at the rec prop down the street (same location as last year) and we are hoping for no rain and dry grass otherwise there might be some injuries! I'll post the video when I get it.

2010-06-17T10:07:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday ~~baby~~ Mae!
It's hard to believe that little Mae is now a big 2 year old girl. And talking up a storm from the sounds of it. Now that she has a little brother, we are trying to lose the habit of referring to her as Baby Mae. It's tricky but maybe once we meet Baby George, it will be easier.

Tada!

2010-05-31T07:56:00.000-06:00

Clara pulled it out herself!

Welcome Baby Georgie!

2010-05-27T11:05:00.001-06:00

I was most relieved to talk to ben's sis, Mandy, this morning to hear that her little boy was born yesterday afternoon around 3pm without too many complications. I can't wait to see some pics of his squished up little head (mum's words, not mine!). Welcome George Milton to the family. There are a couple of cousins this way that are going to love, hug and squeeze you!

2010-05-23T11:49:00.002-06:00

Things I wish were different
I wish my kids didn't sing "It's a jolly holiday with Mary" all day long.
I wish my anxiety wasn't ramping up for some unknown reason.
I wish my dear friend Bettina hadn't moved away.
I wish I had the motivation to go for a swim or a run.
I wish I could check into a hotel somewhere for a few days of quiet and my mess, only.
I wish I knew why my gut was giving me such grief and can anyone advise on how to deal with chronic discomfort bordering on pain and how to not be a cow at the same time?
I wish my eldest would listen to me a bit better and offer to clean up her room.
I wish my youngest would stop talking in a baby voice and would get dressed.
I wish my garage and basement was empty of all the garage sale junk (2 weeks to go).
I wish I could understand my extremely vivid dreams that just started a couple of months ago.

Nearly there!

2010-05-22T14:25:00.001-06:00

Clara's first front tooth is nearly out!!

2010-05-07T09:32:00.000-06:00

Wow, this is a cool app
Until now, I've always run with my Nike+ system that Amy got me some time ago for my birthday. I've had to replace the sensor a couple of times and had a serious lack of success calibrating it when running around a track. However, I heard from a work mate who also runs that Runkeeper for the iphone is a great app. And I tried it today, and I'm sold. No need to go into RunnersWorld and map our course, this one does it all for you. Check it out!

2010-04-28T15:37:00.002-06:00

Pippa's new knickers!
Sorry, but these are the cutest knickers from Zara. Aren't they? Pippa's bum is so tiny that she is still wearing size 2-3 and even those have to be on the small side. Just like her mama.

2010-04-28T15:22:00.003-06:00

Jeepers
I didn't get to run in this half-marathon that I signed up for due to my surgery 2 weeks ago, so I sold my bib to a friend who did quite nicely under my name. I just had a peek at the results and check this out:
The winning runner pretty much tied the winning wheelchair (maybe only one?) entrant. Wow, that's speedy!

 Place Cat/Tot  Category        Numb Name                                 City                 Finish  Pace
===== ======== =============== ==== ==================================== ==================== ======= =====
   1   1/1    Male Wheelchair 1976 Glen SCOTT                           Calgary              1:17:05  3:40
   2   1/284  Male 40-49       558 Jody DRAUDE                          Calgary              1:17:09  3:40

2010-04-28T15:14:00.007-06:00

A Pooch Party
Pippa and I decided that her 4th birthday party would be a puppy party. I found a bunch of great ideas online and my lovely next-door-neighbor sent over a picture of the cake she made for her daughter's puppy party. So, here it is in case you want a fun party idea. I don't know that we got a picture of the cake I made, but this party was my worst effort to date, and the cake (which I was icing at 2 minutes before party started) reflected my rushedness.
Games:
1. Pin the tail on the doggy
2. Make 'tails' out of balloons and pin one on each kids bum. Last one with a tail wins (kids pop each others)
3. Bring a favourite dog stuffie and make him/her a collar and scarf (bandanna)
4. Paint faces to look like puppies (white with black spot)
5. Doggie says (simon says)
6. Who's in the dog house - one kid in the middle of the group, blindfolded. Kids outside take turns barking and the blindfolded kid has to guess.
7. Make a large dog-house out of a cardboard box

Food/prizes
Dog-Bone shaped cookies
Cake looks like a dog bowl (filled with chocolate balls)
Doggie bags include a little dog stuffie that the child "adopted"
Dog chow (bits and bites)

This is the cake my neighbor made:

Here is a not-so-great shot of the one I made. The white eye was basically a dumping of icing sugar, the icing itself was the stuff that hardened and made for sticking the chocolate sprinkles on for eyes/nose next to impossible (only brown thing I could find at 12:50pm). There was ~~some~~ a lot cursing.

Here's the birthday girl herself, she had a great time and
was a good host for the most part

She didn't want to play Pin the Tail on the Doggy but then it's her party and she could do what she wanted (or didn't) want to.
Note: nice dog, mum, where IS the tail supposed to go anyway and couldn't you have just drawn a frakking poodle?!

2010-04-17T20:26:00.004-06:00

Life, and all that
I wouldn't recommend surgery, a child's birthday, birthday party and dance class with post-party chez nous all within a week. I had a 2 hour nap today to recover from the past 3 days and my incision from my hernia surgery of a week ago is smarting. Funny, because smart is the last word I'd used to describe myself, after attending (and dancing, albeit not full out) my second Bollywood HipHop lesson followed by a get-together here afterwards. More on my surgery later.
Meanwhile, Happy Birthday (Friday) to Pippa, who is the ripe old age of four. More on that in a bit also. Time to put my feet up and take it very very easy.

Pippa's closet

2010-04-11T12:13:00.001-06:00

Pippa's room

2010-04-11T12:12:00.002-06:00

Clara's closet

2010-04-11T12:12:00.001-06:00

Clara's room

2010-04-11T12:11:00.001-06:00

Sunday is tidy room day

2010-04-11T12:09:00.001-06:00

One of clara's chores for her allowance is to spend some time each
Sunday tidying up her bombshell of a room. And the conversation
usually goes somewhat like this:
(me) Clara, today is Sunday, do you know what that means?
(Clara) yes mum, time to tidy my room
And off she trips, lala, hiho, with birds flying around her head.
(snore, Zzzzzzz)
I wake up to Clara yelling "NO, I can't, don't want to, won't" and
this is before the hysteria and sobbing/screaming starts. Joy, oh joy.
Meanwhile, Pippa has headed upstairs to tidy her room, which isn't one
of her chores. Go figure.
Clara did make an effort this morning before heading out with some
friends for an outdoor adventure (not allowed to call them hikes for
some unknown reason) and I followed along after her to finish the job.
And while it's tidy and pretty looking, I took some snaps which I'll
post as soon as I thunk through how to do that from my iPhone.

2010-04-09T11:37:00.002-06:00

A little video of Miss Pips

2010-04-05T21:38:00.000-06:00

Bread update over here

2010-04-05T21:17:00.002-06:00

Some pics of Pippa's room
I haven't taken any photos of Clara's room because it was only tidy immediately after I finished it, while she was still at gymnastics camp. Sigh. And obviously I need to take some more. The curtains are really cute in Pippa's room (above)

2010-04-04T21:00:00.003-06:00

Yikes
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do with these things that have grown OUT of control since Pippa and I planted them, what, a week ago? Seriously, I am not supposed to transplant them outside until after Victoria Day weekend which is going on 6 weeks from now. And until them? I guess I could let them grown up the window until they entwine themselves around the curtain rods....
Thoughts? Anyone? Bueller?

2010-03-30T15:53:00.002-06:00

It's spring!
As often happens, come spring I get itchy to do something big. And this year, I decided to overhaul both of the girl's rooms. It all started one night when I was feeling badly because I never put anything on Pippa's walls except a couple of cute prints I bought at the local farmers market. Clara has/is such a destroyer, that I thought I'd wait it out with Pippa to see what she was like, rather than invest in some fun stuff for her room, only to have her tear it down, chew it up and spit it out at me, a la Clara. When we moved in, nearly two years ago, I'd bought curtains for both rooms but never really liked them. So, a week and a half later, I've made curtains for Pippa's room and closet (we took off the ugly bi-fold doors), bought and installed curtains for Clara's room and closet, researched closet systems (went with Kormick), had them come and install them yesterday, filled hours, painted and touched up (the former was for Clara's room that was painted not even 2 years ago) and hung pictures in Pippa's room. I moved out their dressers (2 each) because the closets have baskets in them and rearranged their rooms. Finally, I hung clear jewelry stretchy lines with mini clothes-pegs on them in each girls room so that they can hang their photos and art work up. The stuff that I prefer to recycle! And I think that's it for now. I just have to figure out what to do with all these spare dressers. Kiijijii, me thinks.

2010-03-26T09:52:00.002-06:00

Cast update
Well, it worked out in our favour. Clara got in at 1pm yesterday to see the folks at the ortho clinic and there was a doc on hand to decide that her cast could come off for good! Yay, and I made 10 cents :-) The dime had already made an strong impression on her skin, so it was a good thing to get it taken care of - note to all parents reading this, if your kidlets break something, it's a BAD idea to stick things in the cast! Now Clara has some exercises to do to improve her range of motion and strength in her arm. She's quite trepidatious about using it though so we'll have to work on that. And no sports for 2 weeks - what that boils down to is no monkey bars! She's going into withdrawal.

2010-03-24T21:00:00.004-06:00

The saga of Clara's cast continues
The other day at lunch, Clara was demonstrating how she could hold and eat with a fork without using her hands. She had shoved the handle part down her cast. Ha ha ha. I told her about the poster that I'd seen at the cast clinic that illustrated how ugly things could get if you put stuff down your cast. Can you guess where this is going? This afternoon, on the walk home, Clara tells me that she has a dime in her cast, "but it's just right here mum" she placates, as in, I can reach it out. What do you think? After 5 minutes of digging around in there with a metal letter opener (dull end first, then, ug, the pointy end), I put a halt to our efforts of extraction and phoned the hospital. So, it's possible that we have another visit to the cast clinic tomorrow. Hopefully, as her cast is scheduled to come off on Monday, they'll just take pity and remove it 4 days early. Stay tuned!

2010-03-22T16:03:00.002-06:00

Snow Leopard
The RAM that I ordered from Ebay finally arrived and with a shaking hand, I unplugged the Imac and unscrewed the little panel underneath. And whammo, it was that easy. Pop out the old 512mb and pop in the 2 new 1GB cards. Plug her back in, turn her on and install Snow Leopard! Now, onto Mobile Me and then Ilife and Iworks. Here's hoping there's enough space to store all this!

2010-03-22T14:03:00.003-06:00

Zigzag beanie...post coffee
This is a quick knit from Interweave Knits, Fall 2008. I cast on 90 stitches instead of the recommended 80 for a 20" head circumference as my head kept measuring in at 22-23". Duh, don't forget the stretchiness of yarn....I think I've made it fit better by sewing in some black elastic thread around the base and Pippa suggested I add the buttons which I love. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in a teal color and a varigated blue/grey; the pattern is knit with doubled yarn.

Pippa and I planted these in flats

2010-03-22T11:26:00.001-06:00

Pippa helped me plant all these seeds this morning. She was quite
interested to see what each seed looked like.

Zigzag beanie...pre coffee

2010-03-22T07:45:00.001-06:00

Late....again

2010-03-22T07:33:00.001-06:00

I stayed up too late again last night making lunches, hanging laundry
and knitting my zigzag beanie. It's really cute but would have been
way more use had I made it two months ago. By the time it's the right
temperature again, I'll have lost it or decided to give it away.
Late night, not great sleep means I'm putting off getting blondie up.
She's such a struggle to convince to part with her bed these days and
I know exactly why. She's caught the reading bug that I caught and my
brother caught and my folks are the ones who gave it to us! She's
often up past nine o'clock reading, lights on after we have turned
them off for the second, maybe third time. It's hard to be truly
annoyed except that she's such a pain in the ass the next day.

Sitting on the stoop

2010-03-20T18:43:00.001-06:00

It's starting to feel like spring in these parts. The light lasts past
7pm and the kids are out biking and playing on the streets. It's quite
relaxed as the kids head out and just zoom around with whomever is
out. Of course, Clara had her first major wipe out of the season-
resulting in a serious bandaid on her right knee and elbow, and even a
hole in her trousers. She was trying to do jumps on neighbor Ross'
scooter and, well, let's just say that she still needs some practice.
We are missing our Danish friends right now as surely they would be
out here, enjoying spring and making plans for a joint game of
settlers of Catan tonight. Still, they are happy to be back in their
homeland and one day we will go for a visit. Conveniently, another
friend/neighbor flies weekly to Frankfurt so it's easy and hopefully
cheap to send small packages to them.
Speaking of small packages, there are babies on the sidelines these
days. Cousin Charlotte in Leeds is expecting a boy in the next couple
of weeks and aunty Mandy is due with a little boy in June. Time to get
knitting!! Currently I'm working on a communal Bob blankie for the
upcoming grandson of Ms. Helen, the girl's music teacher. But I always
love a good excuse to go shopping for yarn!!

2010-03-14T12:52:00.001-06:00

Miss Pipps

2010-03-11T15:13:00.003-07:00

Sound history
This is pretty cool and lends any interesting concept to ponder. At about 1:15 you will hear the response to Sydney Crosby's winning overtime goal for Olympic Gold. Sound history. What sounds could you identify immediately as historically famous? I'm not sure myself.

2010-03-08T15:19:00.009-07:00

Orange this time
We are just back from the cast clinic and Clara now has an orange cast, for another three weeks. Apparently, it's a full 6 weeks before a break is healed so when offered a splint (with velcro) or another coloured cast, she chose orange. And this time, she's not going to have anyone sign it.

The pink one coming off

It's Clara talking. Me and my orange cast!

2010-02-28T21:06:00.002-07:00

Return to normal
Man, those Olympics! How about it, Canada? We ROCK!!! I don't recall when the last time I put so much time into the Olympics. Perhaps these games were like that because Clara was really really into them (great job at school in informing and exciting the kids to the sports) but we watched so much that I'm just Olympicced and tv-ed out. Completely. I couldn't even watch the closing ceremonies, I was that done of them. It didn't help that Pippa and Clara were alternating screaming and wailing for various reasons.
New this week: normal food, normal bedtimes, no more eating in front of the tv.
Also new this week: regular exercise and going outside for all of us!!
It's back to life as we know it, or as close as we can get to it.

2010-02-27T11:09:00.002-07:00

The tears are flowing
Ben said, last night, that I should head over to hang out with the Danes where they were staying and remind them of how much they are tearing apart our community by leaving. How nice is that!!? Seriously, I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening in a sense of denial/numbness and disbelief. And then the weeping started around 7pm and I think it's going to continue off and on for the next few days. Bettina just stopped by and talking to her opened the flood gates. Man, this is hard. I think I'll have to do lots of things to fill my time so that I don't realize just how much I'm going to miss her.

2010-02-20T16:35:00.006-07:00

Oh, the sadness
Well, we knew this day was coming, and we've been prepared for it for some time now, but the Danes are actually leaving us. They have spent the last Friday night in their house and a week today, the four of them will be on a cross-atlantic flight to Copenhagen. Sigh. It's hard to know what to say about such lovely people, who have had such a positive effect on our neighborhood. People who have enriched our lives and contributed so much in a relatively short period of time.
We had a large party last night at the local hall to say 'so long' and 'farewell'. It was a potluck party and most of the people in the hood came. There was lots of food, wine and beer, toys and hoola hoops for the kids, songs and cake. Yes, I signed up to make the cake which turned out to be quite an interesting experience. Never made a sheet cake for 100 before. You can see the entire documented process over at the food blog here.
All in all, the party was a success, and post-kids-abed, some convened here for a few drinks and snacks and chats. We already know just how big of a hole their departure is going to leave. But, hopefully we can plan to visit them somehow, someday.

2010-02-17T14:17:00.002-07:00

What's the point?
Today, Pippa had a private swim lesson with one of the nicest instructors at our local pool. His name is Ben, he is very gentle and kind, and she wouldn't look at him, talk to him or do ANYTHING that he asked her to do. NOTHING. So, i've established that she cannot handle either a group or individual lesson option, yet she can nearly do the front crawl. She can't show anyone else that she knows how to jump into the pool, yet she can slide down the slide on her stomach and swim to me when I'm about 4 metres away. Grrrrr. So, I asked her why she even wanted to do a swimming lesson (she had asked, asked, asked for it) if she wasn't going to do anything, and she told me that she didnt' know that was what a swimming lesson entailed. Grrrr. Oh, I already typed that.

2010-02-16T12:43:00.002-07:00

My Wednesdays are hell
It starts early, as this is my day to lead the walking school bus so we are out the door at 0820. Sometimes I have appointments at 0900, sometimes not. Usually I head to the school library with Pippa to volunteer for half the day around 11am. Half the school group heads over to hip hop dance immediately after school and I pick them up at 4pm. At first I walked over with Pippa and then we all walked back, but seeing as that took 45 minutes, I decided that it was going to be a drive back day. We eat dinner early on Wednesdays so that Clara can get to her music class at 6pm, during which Pippa and I hang out as Ben has his piano lesson at 7pm. Then home and a quick snack and then bed time. If I'm lucky, I don't have a meeting of some sort at 8pm and I can regroup and figure out the rest of the week. Although, this is nothing compared to what Dr. Lisa Cuddy had to deal with on the last episode of House. Yikes.

2010-02-16T12:42:00.001-07:00

Mmmmm, yummy
If you have a taste for odd combinations, you might like Lindt's dark chocolate with chile or dark chocolate with sea salt. I wonder how long each bar will last in this house....

2010-02-14T18:53:00.003-07:00

Isn't this exactly the age that a kid breaks her first bone?!!!
And bingo! Clara fractured her left distal radius heading down a hill from the skating rink on her skates. Many thanks to Dr. Brendan for his presence and advice to head to the local urgent care centre rather than the children's hospital. We were there for 3.5 hours total instead of 9 hours!

This is the actual broken wrist

The other one is in the first splint and sling that she got until she saw the doc! (Pippa's worn it already too, and I'm pretty sure it's going to become a staple element to the doctor's kits we have)

2010-02-13T14:09:00.002-07:00

Who's a cutie pie?

2010-02-06T13:37:00.003-07:00

Clara's Valentine Day Craft project
While we were at Nana Barbara's and Grandpa David's last weekend, Clara and I experimented with some sculpting clay that you can bake and we had quite a bit of fun. On the LONG, LONG, LONG drive from their house to Toronto, we talked about making valentines out of clay. We ended up deciding to make heart pendants for the girls and hockey sticks and little pucks for the boys. And today we started it. It's mostly me doing it but I guess that's okay because I'm enjoying it. Here are the hearts in progress, and one that's completed. I'll poke a hole through it and then bake them as per instructions. Tres cute, don't you think?

2010-02-06T13:10:00.002-07:00

No swimming for me this morning
All because I had a couple of glasses of wine (hmm, does 4 still count as a couple?) at some friends last night while the kids played and played and played and then I was awake at 0200 until 0500. I watched 3 episodes of Weeds and facebooked for 1.5 hours until I was tired again. Today is going okay, all things considered, but no swimming for me this morning.

2010-02-05T09:14:00.003-07:00

Tired
Well, I went and signed up for another half marathon, the Police Half in April. And I'm really wishing I hadn't spent the $60 because really? I don't want to run it. Because really? I'm really struggling to get myself motivated to swim and run at all. Partially it's because swimming is tricky with Pippa in preschool and partially it's because I haven't been feeling super well of late and partially it's because I'd rather sit on my butt and do nothing.
And I'm tired today because I did kick my butt into going swimming yesterday morning and then I went to my half-marathon running clinic last night. And it was brutal, fun, but really hard. Jeff is a great coach though, it's just that by the end of the class, I don't have much left. We had to do a 'fighting mile' which is 200m followed by 10 push-ups, 8 times. After a minute or so of rest, we had to do 200m tempo, 30 sec rest, twice, then 400m tempo, 45 sec rest, twice, then 600m tempo, 60 sec rest, twice. I was feeling like vomiting by the end of the first 600m. Lovely! And then, a bit of rest and 5 minutes of fartleks. Good thing he didn't tell us about the fartleks in advance otherwise we would have mutinied! And to finish it all off, we did 20 minutes of core.
As a result of all this, I'm heading to the market this morning with Val and Pippa to find some treats and to veg out a bit.

2010-01-25T08:57:00.002-07:00

The Chore Charts
I've tried lots of different ways to try to get Clara to do some chores around the house and, to date, nothing had been successful. Money was definitely not a motivator as it just wasn't something she valued. She would show interest in it for a bit but then give it to Pippa to play with or throw it back at me in a rage. Yup, Clara has been known to rage. Anyway, her dear friend Emily had her ears pierced this past summer and her mum told us that Emily was allowed to have them done once she had saved up enough money (these days it costs $50!!!). I'm not against Clara having her ears pierced but in order to stretch out when she has it done, I adopted the same approach, thinking this would kill a few birds with one stone. She would learn about money, learn the responsibility of doing chores and learn some patience and long term planning. Well, I hope this is what she might learn. So far, so good! The chore chart comes from this site and I've just printed out masters that I'm taking to laminate so we don't use a new chart each week. And the way it works is for each day that has no X's (one gets an X if a chore/behavior isn't done or is repeated despite warnings), she gets $1. And the first week she got $4 and last week she got $5! The latter was especially impressive as she had her first behavior on the chart - Stop shouting NO when asked to do something. So, onto week three and we'll see how it goes.

2010-01-22T15:26:00.002-07:00

Oh dear
My lovely friend, Nadia, gave me a funny magnet that I promptly posted on my freezer door that reads "Stop me before I volunteer again". Perhaps it's because I'm not working for pay, perhaps it's because I'm nosy, perhaps it's because I feel that I can fit this in but I tend to volunteer to organize things, volunteer to be on committees and often dream up, plan and implement fun events (ie. 80's party). However, this time I wonder if I've gone too far! I agreed to sit on Clara's school executive as the fundraising director. Me? Fundraise? Hmmm. I said I'd do something as long as it didn't involve numbers as I'm not so great at the whole number game. ASK ANYONE! Anyway, I guess I'll see what I've signed myself up for soon. The funny thing is that I haven't been able to make one Parent Council meeting this year because they are always on Wednesdays and conflict with Clara's music class. Probably there will be a different time for next year's music, I hope.

2010-01-22T13:26:00.005-07:00

Coming one day soon
Last Friday, our original Bollywood dancing ladies plus 6 others hosted a community 80's party at our local community hall to perform our latest dance routine, MJ's Thriller. Wait a sec, let me back up.
12 of us had signed up for an 80's dance class during the fall and we were all pumped to relearn that awkward 80's dance style. Well, it didn't exactly turn out as we'd hoped and instead, we learned dirty dancing style (50's) and disco (70's) which, while fun enough, wasn't 80's at all and not awkward in the slightest. After a few classes, we staged a bit of a protest and requested something from the 80's, and seeing as we were the majority of the class, we definitely had sway. Laura, our instructor, quickly investigated and learned most of the Thrill the World dance that has become an annual international phenomenon to honour MJ.
And our party? Huge success! Not only did we do the dance (6 of us) but invited a bunch of friends and neighbors and the 80's costumes were hilarious! Here's my version of Billy Idol pre-party (my hair was a disaster as I thought I'd dye the ends of my punk ponies with jello, not realizing that what I actually needed to be successful at this experiment was Koolaid until I was covered in a gluey, strawberry-smelling sticky mess).
Video of the thriller dance to follow when I get a hold of it.

2010-01-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

Pint-sized hockey fun

2010-01-08T07:45:00.002-07:00

Ahh, odd weather
Yesterday morning it was too cold to walk to school (-22 before wind) and today, I have the windows open. Go figure. We're deep in the midst of planning our 80's dance party next friday and I'm listening to all this 80's music in prep as I'm in charge of the music. We're also practicing our Thriller dance which may or may not be performed at the show. And what about costumes? We have to come up with some kind of costumes for the Thriller performance - does anyone have any suggestions?

2010-01-07T13:03:00.003-07:00

Oh, she's a fickle one, that Clara
In October, I asked Clara is she was at all interested in a Hip Hop class for 30 minutes after school on Wednesday. It was the same people who provided her entire school with hip hop instruction for a week last year. Yes, yes, yes she enthused after I mentioned the 8 kids I knew were also taking the class, all people she knew and was friends with, YES! So, I signed her up to start in January and to run through the rest of the school year. It's super close to her school, there's a bunch of kids that can walk over there together as there aren't any roads to cross. Sounds good, right? Wrong.
It started yesterday and all I heard about once she was home was "I don't like Hip Hop. I have homework (she has to come up with her own unique pose - give me a break). I want to take swimming lessons instead so I can get a ribbon."
I'm hoping that this is mostly because yesterday was her first day back at school after a very long break and throwing the extra 30 minutes onto that was a bit too much for her.

2010-01-04T08:35:00.004-07:00

Loving this yarn
Wow, this is so worth shelling out the $48 per skein (although I bought mine on Ravelry for much less). Hand Maiden sea silk is delightful to knit and to touch and it's made in Canada! I might just have to keep this one for myself, but probably not.

2010-01-04T08:16:00.002-07:00

Purging
Alright people. It's 0816 and I've purged our house of chocolate/candy etc with the exception of homemade stuff that's currently in the freezer. Mental note: I should move that to the basement freezer. All extraneous bottles of wine are moved into the basement. Alcohol to be consumed only after 5pm on Friday and ending Sunday night. How boring, right? Yes, but as we only get older and our metabolisms only slow down, it's time to make some life changes. Once the ham is out of the fridge, no more meat for me (and Pippa who is a self-declared vegetarian) and if Ben and Clara want meat, I'm thinking they're going to have to eat out! Ben's going swimming tonight, I'm scheduled to run with Jenn tomorrow morning and Friday morning. That about covers what I've accomplished so far today.

2010-01-03T08:13:00.003-07:00

Returning to a normal schedule
New Year, same old life! This morning, I woke up around 7am so I'm getting back into the routine quickly. The kids woke up around 8:oo - 8:30 and tomorrow I'll wake them earlier to get them into the schedule. The house is completely De-Christmassed, I have a new list going, I've photographed my knitting and will update Ravelry shortly.
Preschool and music for Pippa starts on Tuesday, Grade one and music for Clara start on Wednesday. Yay! Normality!
And normal food too. The kids ate so much candy and chocolate over the holidays that we are on a one dessert/sweet a day rule to wean us ALL off sweets! I seem to have gained a few pounds, my turkey buddha is what I'm calling it! Although really it should be called a turkey/booze/chocolate buddha.
And my New Year's Resolution this year is lame but I'm going to make it the only one so that I stick to it:
Back in the pool, back on the treads.

2010-01-02T17:43:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year!
Wow, I've been delinquent for a while over here, in this space.
Quickly:
Thanksgiving = lovely meal with the Danes across the street, who aren't leaving as soon as they were originally planned, due to a terrible economy in Denmark. We'll keep them for as long as they'll stay!
Hallowe'en = H1N1 for all the girls, not so fun. Days and days off school and at home. Ben didn't catch it. H1N1 shots for all the girls, just in case, waiting for seasonal to become available.
November? Hmmm, no idea.
December = super fun spa weekend at Banff Springs for Tiff and 6 gal pals. Highly recommend this for you if you haven't done something along these lines. However, be prepared for the $200 price tag of any treatment at the Banff Spring. Yup, $200 for a massage!
December also equaled a last minute decision to head East for the holidays to spend some time with my folks and with Ben's mum and family. We left on the 21st and were originally due to return on the 28th to catch Ben's dad and stepmum on the 30th but circumstances were such that we extended our stay by 4 days and returned home on the first. A delayed flight out of Ottawa meant we were home at midnight but at least Clara seems to have reached an age where she recognizes that she's tired and slept for the last 1.5 hours of the flight. Pippa? Not so much, lots of wiggling and changing the touch screen channels on her TV.
We ate a lot, drank enough and didn't do a lick of exercise. Hence, I have about 5 pounds extra around my waist - my turkey buddha, I've been calling it! The half marathon training program I registered for before Christmas should help with that, eh?

2009-12-11T16:50:00.002-07:00

Oh, this one is good!
A good friend sent this around and did I laugh!

Important Women's Health Issue:
Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
Do you suffer from shyness?
Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Margaritas.

Margaritas are the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Margaritas can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything. You will notice the benefits of Margaritas almost immediately and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live. Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Margaritas.

Margaritas may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Margaritas. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

Side effects may include:
Dizziness
Nausea
Vomiting
Incarceration
Erotic lustfulness
Loss of motor control
Loss of clothing
Loss of money
Loss of virginity
Table dancing
Headache
Dehydration
Dry mouth
And a desire to sing Karaoke

WARNINGS:
The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you are whispering when you are not.
The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to think you can sing.
The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.

Please share this with other women who may need Margaritas.

2009-12-10T08:57:00.003-07:00

In a rut
It seems that I cannot get my butt out the door to do anything vaguely physical. It could be due to the extended cold spell that we're going through, and the mountains of snow that have blanketed everything outdoors. It could be that December is a busy month and either Ben or I is out most evenings at something or other. It could be that I'm just feeling damn lazy and opting to sleep in or stay in and take care of errands rather than go to the pool. And I'd much rather watch Glee than go for a run these days. I know I'll snap out of it but there are too many external factors that are helping me chose the sloth path.

2009-12-08T09:33:00.002-07:00

A long list
Like Santa, I have a long list to content with today, and my usual conditioning swim isn't on that list (and hasn't been for, sadly, too long).

Check on an order from Grand River Toys
Write a letter and drop off with cheque to Well Come Change, $110 that Clara raised at her birthday party for water projects in Africa
Print Address labels for the holiday cards
Mop the floor
Sign up for a Half Marathon Training Class at the University across the road
Pick up package for Clara at the Post Office
Stop in at school and pick up stuff for Open House that I volunteered to be in charge of this year
Stop by the liquor store to get wine for dinner this Saturday

Seems that, despite having one child at school all day and one child away two mornings, I have less time to do things that I enjoy, like blogging, knitting and reading. I'm baffled as to why this is, and where my time goes, but when I put together a list like this, I guess I understand where it goes. Plus I have tried to swim two mornings a week, volunteer at the library one morning a week and attend either a music class or go to the library one morning a week. Busy, busy, busy!

2009-11-30T17:53:00.003-07:00

Holy Spot On!
Some girlfriends and I went to Banff Springs Hotel and Spa last weekend for an overnight mini-break and what a riot!! Talk about a day and night of making those kind of memories that make you giggle whenever you see the others. Anyway, one of the conversations on the drive up was about the Myers-Briggs Personality Types and I just did the test. Wow. I didn't realize how much I fit into a mold!!
Here's who I am:

Portrait of an ESFP - Extraverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving
(Extraverted Sensing with Introverted Feeling)
The Performer
As an ESFP, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Your secondary mode is internal, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system. ESFPs live in the world of people possibilties. They love people and new experiences. They are lively and fun, and enjoy being the center of attention. They live in the here-and-now, and relish excitement and drama in their lives.
ESFPs have very strong inter-personal skills, and may find themselves in the role of the peacemaker frequently. Since they make decisions by using their personal values, they are usually very sympathetic and concerned for other people's well-being. They're usually quite generous and warm. They are very observant about other people, and seem to sense what is wrong with someone before others might, responding warmly with a solution to a practical need. They might not be the best advice-givers in the world, because they dislike theory and future-planning, but they are great for giving practical care.
ESFP is definitely a spontaneous, optimistic individual. They love to have fun. If the ESFP has not developed their Thinking side by giving consideration to rational thought processing, they tend to become over-indulgent, and place more importance on immediate sensation and gratification than on their duties and obligations. They may also avoid looking at long-term consequences of their actions.
For the ESFP, the entire world is a stage. They love to be the center of attention and perform for people. They're constantly putting on a show for others to entertain them and make them happy. They enjoy stimulating other people's senses, and are extremely good at it. They would love nothing more than for life to be a continual party, in which they play the role of the fun-loving host.
ESFPs love people, and everybody loves an ESFP. One of their greatest gifts is their general acceptance of everyone. They are upbeat and enthusiastic, and genuinely like almost everybody. An ESFP is unfailingly warm and generous with their friends, and they generally treat everyone as a friend. However, once crossed, an ESFP is likely to make a very strong and stubborn judgment against the person who crossed them. They are capable of deep dislike in such a situation.
The ESFP under a great deal of stress gets overwhelmed with negatives thoughts and possibilities. As an optimistic individual who lives in the world of possibilities, negative possibilities do not sit well with them. In an effort to combat these thoughts, they're likely to come up with simple, global statements to explain away the problem. These simplistic explanations may or may not truly get to the nature of the issue, but they serve the ESFP well by allowing them to get over it.
ESFPs are likely to be very practical, although they hate structure and routine. They like to "go with the flow", trusting in their ability to improvise in any situation presented to them. They learn best with "hands-on" experience, rather than by studying a book. They're uncomfortable with theory. If an ESFP hasn't developed their intuitive side, they may tend to avoid situations which involve a lot of theoretical thinking, or which are complex and ambiguous. For this reason, an ESFP may have difficulty in school. On the other hand, the ESFP does extremely well in situations where they're allowed to learn by interacting with others, or in which they "learn by doing".
ESFPs have a very well-developed appreciation for aesthetic beauty, and an excellent sense of space and function. If they have the means, they're likely to have to have many beautiful possessions, and an artfully furnished home. In general, they take great pleasure in objects of aesthetic beauty. They're likely to have a strong appreciation for the finer things in life, such as good food and good wine.
The ESFP is a great team player. He or she is not likely to create any problems or fuss, and is likely to create the most fun environment possible for getting the task done. ESFPs will do best in careers in which they are able to use their excellent people skills, along with their abilities to meld ideas into structured formats. Since they are fast-paced individuals who like new experiences, they should choose careers which offer or require a lot of diversity, as well as people skills.
ESFPs usually like to feel strongly bonded with other people, and have a connection with animals and small children that is not found in most other types. They're likely to have a strong appreciation for the beauties of nature as well.
The ESFP has a tremendous love for life, and knows how to have fun. They like to bring others along on their fun-rides, and are typically a lot of fun to be with. They're flexible, adaptable, genuinely interested in people, and usually kind-hearted. They have a special ability to get a lot of fun out of life, but they need to watch out for the pitfalls associated with living entirely in the moment.
Jungian functional preference ordering:
Dominant: Extraverted Sensing
Auxiliary: Introverted Feeling
Tertiary: Extraverted Thinking
Inferior: Introverted Intuition

and I got all this directly from here

2009-11-23T16:28:00.003-07:00

And the Mystery Reader is...
Me! I was invited by Clara's teacher to be the mystery reader in her class today. The invitation was sent out to all parents of kids in this class, as well as other grade 1/2 classes. I happened to have arranged a sitter for this morning and so off I went, with The Gruffalo in hand. It was very fun to read to such a well-behaved group of 6, 7 and 8 year olds. Afterwards, I stayed on and listened to them discuss the book. One question that was interesting and made me think was "Is the Gruffalo real?". I think this is a great example of a book that teaches how stories can be completely made up, consisting of things that aren't real and don't exist in our world. Perfect fiction.

2009-11-17T09:54:00.001-07:00

Get on the bus!
Join the campaign to pressure Starbucks to switch to cups that can be recycled.

2009-11-17T08:50:00.005-07:00

Pippa's Insect Party Hairdo
Sorry to have photo postings back to back but Pippa's hair looked so cute this way that I thought I should share it.