Blooming Where I Am

Nature vs. Nurture

2012-01-23T09:01:00.004-05:00

Sunday is laundry day at our house. Every week, as soon as we get home from church, Dude goes down for his nap and I start on the mountain of dirty clothes that has somehow accumulated in what feels like the blink of an eye. On a good day, there are only 4-5 loads to do, so the last trip outside and into the basement laundry room is over by 7:00 or so. On a bad day, I'm not finished until well after I want to be in bed.

Fortunately, yesterday was one of the good days, so by 7:30 the last load was in the dryer and waiting to be brought upstairs and folded. I had left the laundry basket out in the living room, since Dude likes to play with it, so went to get it and head downstairs. Except it wasn't in the living room. Nor was it in the dining room or kitchen. After some searching, I discovered that it, along with the slippers I had been wearing for the trek outside, had been put back in our bedroom where they're normally kept.

My first thought on seeing this was along the lines of Again? Seriously? Why does he always do this?! You see, my husband is a compulsive neat freak. I cannot count the number of times I've gotten something out, and he's put it away before I even get a chance to use it. He is no longer allowed to touch my purse or anything that is even remotely connected to my work, since the memorable day he "put away" my work bag without telling me and I ended up being late because I couldn't find it. I therefore felt quite justified as I went to find TC to ~~scold~~ gently remind him not to put things away before I'm finished with them. Until he told me he hadn't touched anything.

As it turns out, it was our son who felt compelled to put the basket away, along with my slippers that had been sitting next to the couch waiting for the next trip downstairs. I couldn't believe it. Now I'm living with 2 of them!

As I continued to work on the laundry, I found myself wondering whether this was something Dude had learned from his dad (nurture), or if he came from a long line of neat freaks and therefore has a genetic predisposition towards neat freakishness (nature). The interesting thing about adopting is that we'll never really know, since "General Neatness" doesn't seem to be a category in the biological parents' standard histories. :) It's funny how many characteristics Dude shares with us, which has led me to believe that either: a) nurture is a lot more influential that I originally thought, or b) we have a lot in common with Dude's biological parents. Or maybe both?

In any case, I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll be spending the rest of my life looking for things that have been "put away". *sigh*

Lessons from Dude

2012-01-18T12:49:00.007-05:00

This is Dude - my 32 lb. energetic bundle of laughs, mischief, slobber and curiousity. Since he came into my life a little more than a year ago, he has taught me many, many things. Things that I thought I already knew, but really...I had no idea.

Lesson #1 - Free time is a rare and precious thing.

Every now and then, I go back and read old posts on this blog. I did so recently, and laughed at how often I complained about being too busy. Then I wanted to reach back in time and smack myself on the head. I had so much free time!! Other than the 45-ish hours a week spent at work, and the 50 or so hours spent sleeping, my time was completely my own to do with as I pleased. That's a little over 70 hours every week!

Now? Free time exists only in the hours that Dude is asleep or being looked after by someone else. Ask any parent of a pre-schooler, and they will confirm that if your child is awake and in your care, you will get little else accomplished beyond ensuring their relative health, safety, entertainment, maintenance, etc. So, taking into account work and sleep, the amount of post-Dude free time is reduced to around 30 hours/week. Assuming he sleeps normally (see below). And because society frowns on the practice of leaving sleeping children alone, I cannot go anywhere during those 30 hours unless another caregiver is in attendance.

Thankfully I have someone in my life who shares the responsibilities of parenthood and is willing/able to take on solo care-giving duty for a while. This gives me a little extra time to squeak in luxury activities like going to get groceries by myself, or going out to eat with friends. However, should I want to engage in such activities with this other person, we fork over big $$ for a babysitter.

Lesson #2 - Uninterrupted sleep is a subcategory of free time.

I.e. - it is a rare and precious thing, only possible when Dude is also asleep. Fortunately for us, Dude has always been an excellent sleeper. Bedtime comes, hugs and kisses are exchanged, Dude is put in his bed, and that's it. He sleeps. And unless he's sick, overtired, or in a strange place, he usually manages to stay asleep until it's time to wake up. I cannot express to you how thankful we are for this child.

That being said, he is still a child. So there are still nights that are less than restful for all involved. And I never know when those nights will happen. Unless I decide to stay up late (and by "late" I mean anytime after 10pm) to indulge in a free time activity, like reading a book. That will invariably be the night that Dude develops a cold and ends up coughing all night, or has a nightmare at 2 am, or wakes up for some unknown reason and cannot get back to sleep without significant effort on my part.

Lesson #3 - Privacy is optional.

Not only is my time no longer my own, my space has been greatly diminished as well. Being alone while using the bathroom? Thing of the past. Eating my own food, and only my own food? Not anymore. Sitting down without serving as an interactive jungle gym? Rarely. Toddlers just don't understand the concepts of privacy or personal space, so Dude has full access at almost all times. And you know what? It honestly doesn't bother me.

Lesson #4 - Cleanliness is highly overrated.

This one probably doesn't require a whole lot of explanation. When you only have 30 hours of free time every week, you swiftly come to realize what your priorities are. I was surprised to realize how far down the list house cleaning is for me. As long as things are clean enough that no one's going to get sick, I'm good. There are other things I'd rather do with my oh so precious time. :)

#5 - A mother's love is unconditional.

It's true. I love this kid more than I ever thought it was possible to love another human being. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and my family, but it's different from the way that I love Dude. And I'm not exactly sure how to describe it. There is absolutely nothing he could do, nothing, that would change the fact that he's my son and I love him. The main goal of my life now is to make sure he grows up to be the best version of himself that he can possibly be.

Which is why it honestly doesn't matter that I have no free time, have developed permanent bags under my eyes, can't pee without an audience, and live in a pig sty. If that's what it takes to make sure he's happy and healthy, then I'm glad to do it.

To Harness or Not to Harness...

2011-08-15T12:33:00.004-04:00

As you may have deduced from the title of this post, TC and I are currently debating whether or not to buy a todder harness for Dude. We're not quite decided on it yet. I have read some articles that laud their ability to keep a child safe while allowing them freedom to explore and move independently, and others that condemn them as demeaning tools used by parents too lazy to parent properly.

While I recognize that the toddler harness, like any other tool, can by abused or used improperly, I have to say that I'm much more sympathetic to the former view. There are some children who are content to sit in a stroller, or hold your hand if they're walking. Dude is not one of these children. He is a fiercely independent, intensely curious, energetic 15-month old who doesn't yet understand that he shouldn't run into the street or to the other end of the mall. He also gets upset if he's forced to stay in his stroller for too long as that requires sitting still for more than 10 seconds, and since he's currently the size of a 3-year old (seriously, the kid is huge!), carrying him for more than 5 minutes kills your arms and back. Assuming he'll let you carry him in the first place. We don't have a car, so taking Dude anywhere means walking on busy streets and in busy subway stations. Letting him go free range at this age just doesn't seem like a good idea.

What about you folks? Have you ever harnessed your kids? Do you think they're a bad idea? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the issue.

Adventures in Dude-Proofing

2011-08-05T15:30:00.004-04:00

The Dude is an extremely determined child. As a result of said determinedness, we've had to be quite creative in our attempts to child-proof the apartment. Most recently, we've had to gate off the bottom half of the floor-to-ceiling pantry shelving next to the fridge because Dude, who is an active 15 month old, was getting into everything he could reach.

I received this email from my darling hubby this morning:

"So, thinking that the kitchen was safe, I let Dude play out there on his own while I was getting ready . . . then all goes quiet. Then I heard the rattling of dishes and think, oh, he's just poking at them through the grating or swatting them with a spatula. No: he pushed the small garbage can up to the gate, climbed up it, reached over it and had pulled each bowl out one by one and stacked them - and balanced them!- on the edge of the gate. Man, that kid is AWESOME!"

*sigh*

How to Use the TTC Without Being an Ass

2011-08-05T13:05:00.007-04:00

Rule #1: Keep it to yourself.
If whatever you're doing reaches beyond the limited space that you occupy en route to your destination, for the love of all that's good, stop doing it. This rule encompasses a number of behaviours, including (but not limited to):

Having an excessively loud conversation, whether in person or on the phone

Cranking the volume on your iPod so that everyone else can hear it too

Clipping your fingernails (there's no way you can control where those suckers land - just, ew!)

Reading a fully extended newspaper (fold it up, folks!)

Eating smelly food

Rule #2: Don't block traffic.
Keep in mind that you're not the only person trying to get somewhere. When you step into the subway car, keep going! I've seen so many people stop just inside the door and consider their seating options while there are 15 people waiting behind them trying to get it before the doors close.

The same goes for any objects you're bringing with you, be they boxes, strollers, luggage or whatever. Don't stop at the narrowest part of the aisle, or right at the front so that everyone is forced to navigate around you. Move back, or at least out of the way as much as possible.

Rule #3: Never run for it.
It's not worth it - there will be another bus/streetcar/train along soon, and you risk plowing over anyone who might not be as speedy as you. If you're always feeling the need to rush, leave yourself more time to get wherever you need to be going. If that's not possible, take a long, hard look at your life.

Rule #4: Be helpful.
I know it's hard to step outside your city-shell and take the time to provide assistance, but do it anyway. Trust me, the lady struggling to get her stroller on the streetcar, or the person who has no idea how to get to their destination, will be incredibly appreciative.

Rule #5: Be gracious.
Every commuter has run into a situation where someone else is being an ass. It's inevitable. The solution, however, is not to contribute your own assiness. Now, I'm not against implementing a little passive justice, but it's not always possible to do so in a way that isn't more annoying than the original offense. Instead, allow for the fact that there may be extenuating circumstances and let it go.

I'm back!

2011-08-04T15:28:00.002-04:00

Did you miss me? I'll spare you all the "sorry it's been so long" blather - suffice it to say that there have been some major changes taking place in the Blooming household that have made blogging time virtually non-existent. The best kind of changes :)

For those who haven't already heard, TC and I were placed with a beautiful baby boy way back in October, and life has been quite a trip ever since! In three short weeks (which was the amount of notice we had before we brought him home), The Dude managed to completely alter life as we knew it. And I wouldn't go back to the way it was for all the chocolate in Belgium!

I'd love to post a picture of him here for you to see, but because the adoption hasn't actually been finalized we're prohibited from putting his image anywhere on the internet. The entire process is almost done - we're just waiting to hear back about when our court date will be. Then we go to court, watch the judge sign a piece of paper, and he's completely ours! I'll be keeping you updated now that I'm back at work and caught up from my parental leave.

Hooray!

Now That's Class!

2010-06-23T10:12:00.004-04:00

Any guesses as to what these are? I'll give you a hint. We were visiting Brother G and his wife V last night, and they were telling us about their recent trip to South Carolina to visit TC's folks who rented a condo down there this winter. While there, the MIL & FIL insisted that they visit Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede.

At this point you're probably thinking "Oh, so these are the cheesy souvenirs from that visit." You're partly right.

Apparently, when you order wine with your dinner at the Dixie Stampede, it comes in these white, plastic cowboy boots. Which means that sometime during the design of this establishment, someone thought this would be a good idea. And enough of the people in charge agreed with them to make it happen.

The mind boggles.

Ole! Ole! Ole!

2010-06-17T19:34:00.007-04:00

Growing up in the Maritimes - where no one really played soccer except that one kid who was kind of wierd anyway - I had never heard of the World Cup. It was swiftly made clear to me in the summer of 2006 that this put me in the minority on a global scale.

Here in Toronto, it is HUGE. There was no way I could have been prepared for the phenomenon that is TO during the World Cup.

Everyone had flags waving from their car windows, over balconies, in windows, on cubicle walls - basically anywhere they could think to put one. Little stores pop up on street corners selling merchandise. At work, every television (and many computer screens) was tuned in to every game, and there was always a crowd of people around each one.

By the quarter finals, it had become a massive, firm-wide event. The flags of the 8 remaining teams were hung at reception, and removed as each team was eliminated. Any games that took place during work hours were projected onto the big screens in the large boardrooms, where we had set up free wings and pizza, as well as fresh popcorn made in the carnival-grade popcorn machines the company rented for the duration (it was my job to make the popcorn - I smelled like butter for weeks!).

TC and I live near one of Toronto's Italian communities, and every time Italy won, we wouldn't be able to sleep at night because of the horns sounding in celebration from the myriad of cars driving up and down the street. And when they won the cup...whoo, boy! More than 20,000 people came to our area to party - and party they did!

This year is shaping up to be much the same, and I'm loving it! I was waiting for the streetcar after work today, and there was obviously some kind of delay as the line stretched all the way to the other side of the station. People were incredibly irritated, and fuses were short. When a TTC supervisor arrived on the scene, he was asked none too politely what the hold-up was. His response? "Mexico just won, and the street was blocked."

What followed is the reason I enjoy the World Cup. All of a sudden, no one was irritated anymore. It made perfect sense to everyone that the street had to be blocked in order to properly celebrate a victory. Complete strangers in line began discussing the merits of various teams, the results of the earlier game between Argentina and South Korea, the annoying-ness of the vuvuzela horn...you get the idea.

No other event that I know of brings people together like this - even the Olympics don't really come close. And it's fabulous to see :)

Happy Birthday BB!

2010-01-27T18:13:00.003-05:00

On this day, many years ago :), a baby boy was born to a young couple living out east. The years passed and he grew up to become a great guy - quiet but thoughtful, a lot of fun with a wacky sense of humour, hard-working and hard-playing, an all around nice guy. And an awesome big brother who put up with quite a bit from his loud, bossy, easily irritated little sister :)

Today I'm thankful for that guy.

Short & Sweet

2010-01-20T16:12:00.001-05:00

This one's going to be short, but oh so incredibly sweet! What am I thankful for this week?

I'm going to be an aunt :)

Change of plans

2010-01-11T11:05:00.005-05:00

I think I may have to amend my initial intent for this blog - life is still a bit too crazy for daily posting, so why don't we try this instead: Once each week I will post about something that happened for which I'm thankful, and then as I have time I'll add whatever other little posts strike my fancy.

Something exciting did happen this past week, which I'm incredibly thankful for. After 6 months of paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork, we finally have some movement in our ongoing quest to adopt. Last Thursday we met with a social worker from our local Children's Aid Society to review our application and conduct the preliminary interview. There's still a long way to go before we're placed with a child, but at least this means they're considering us and the process is moving along. The next step is to be assigned an adoption worker who will be with us throughout the process, so here's hoping that won't take too long ;)

Stumbling into a Rabbit Hole

2010-01-06T09:16:00.004-05:00

I rarely watch TV. Not that I don't watch TV shows, but I generally prefer to find a show that I like and then watch it on my own schedule on my computer or on DVD. For the past few weeks, though, TC has taken over our computer to watch every episode of The Office (a show I can't stand because it reminds me too much of work), so I've had to resort to flicking through the channels to find something interesting.

And there was a significant amount of flicking. Is it just me, or do most primetime shows that are on right now really bite? There seem to be only a few categories available:

Crime shows, which have become rather predictable and have therefore come to rely on being shockingly graphic or twisted. The one exception I've noticed is NCIS, which tends to pay more attention to character development instead.
Reality shows, which are farther from reality than most fictional shows.
Dramas, which are essentially evening soap operas.
Sitcoms, which are almost all variations of the same situation. The variation comes in the exact nature of the quirks possessed by the couple/family that are the main characters. Again, I do have an exception. TC and I both love Big Bang Theory.

And that's about it! There doesn't seem to be a lot out there, so I was thankful when I happened to stumble onto this program:

I had previously seen Tin Man, which was produced by the same people, and I highly recommend it as well.

What about you folks? Are there any shows that you would recommend to someone who's tired of the same old, same old?

PS - I feel the need to add that I only watch these shows while I'm working on some kind of craft - knitting, crocheting, embroidery and the like. Wouldn't want you to think I sit around doing nothing ;)

It's Not the Place, It's the Company

2010-01-04T15:37:00.002-05:00

It was a pleasant surprise, after the insanity of the past few months, to discover that I was actually glad to be getting back to work this morning. At first I thought it was because of the break, and that probably does have a lot to do with it, but after a while I realized that another major reason was that I missed my co-workers.

It's kind of bizarre - I've never developed that kind of attachment to anyone I've worked with before (outside of summer camp, which is a whole different kettle of onions). After giving it some more thought, though, it makes perfect sense. These are the people that I've seen on an almost daily basis for the past few years, and we've recently come through a very stressful group project that required us to really pull together and work as a team to get everything done. That tends to be a major bonding experience.

So today I'm thankful for the people that I work with. They make coming to work a lot more fun than it would be otherwise :)

2010-01-03T23:28:00.002-05:00

We finally have some snow! I know some of you down east are probably sick of it already, but up until today we haven't had any here in TO, so I'm glad to see it :)

Today was the first day I had to pull out the long-johns and wool socks, bundling up in multiple layers of sweaters and my warmest hat & scarf. Love it! It reminded me of all the times as a kid that we got into our snow gear and went outside for hours of fun.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2010-01-02T22:38:00.003-05:00

Have you ever gone a little bit shack whacky? By the end of the day yesterday, TC and I decided that we'd been stuck in the apartment for long enough and needed to get out. We made plans to walk down to a little Thai place today for lunch, so that's what we did despite the extremely cold temperatures outside. As a result of this little outing, I'm thankful for 2 things:

1) That there's a Thai place nearby which is MSG-free. I don't often get to enjoy Asian food, since the majority of it contains MSG, so it was great to be able to eat at this place without having to worry that my heart was going to go haywire shortly thereafter.

Amusing side note - there was a guy in the restaurant who entertained us greatly with his continual efforts to impress both the woman with him and the waitress. My favourite part?

Guy: (Trying to impress Asian waitress with his extensive knowledge) Did you know that Thailand was named one of the best places to live? It was Bangkok, actually.

Waitress: (deadpan) Are you sure?

Guy: Uhm...well, it could have been...it was somewhere over there.

Tee hee!

2) Did I mention that it was extremely cold today? We walked to and from the restaurant, about a 25-minute endeavour each way. By the time we got home I was painfully cold, which made me realize how thankful I was for a warm apartment to come home to where I could put on warm, fuzzy clothes and make a nice hot cup of tea while I waited for the feeling to come back in my fingers. My heart goes out to the people who I know will be out on the streets tonight.

Unplugged

2010-01-01T14:15:00.002-05:00

Today is the first day of 2010, and the first thing that I'm thankful for is the fact that it's a statutory holiday so I can turn off my blackberry.

One of the long term fallouts of the work craziness over the past few months is that my team is now required to carry the blackberry with us at all times, so that we're always available should an issue arise. I have received emails and phone calls during all hours of the day and/or night on this thing.

It's not a development that I'm especially fond of, so for today I'm going to revel in the fact that no one from work can reach me. I'm unplugged.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

2009-12-31T14:06:00.007-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

And what a year it's been! Thank you all for your patience as things shut down around here for a while so that I could deal with life and stuff - your notes and encouragement throughout have meant the world to me :) Life is still crazy, but I think that's just going to be the norm from now on and that's perfectly okay. It's also fun (most of the time)!

Did you notice the new look? I'm hoping to take this blog in a slightly different direction this year. A few weeks ago, TC and I were really challenged* to shift our focus from what we want to what we already have, choosing to be grateful for the many blessings already in our lives instead of falling into that sense of not quite being there yet, wherever "there" happens to be. So here's my plan:

Each day in 2010, I will post about one thing that happened in the previous 24 hours for which I am thankful.

I'm looking forward to the journey, and to sharing it with all of you!

Here's to a joyful, fulfilling 2010!

*If you want to hear the sermon that did the challenging, click here, select the series "Get Over Yourself" and either watch or listen to the one called "Entitlement: The Culture of Special". It's good stuff :)

We now pause for station identification...

2009-10-15T22:40:00.002-04:00

Hi folks. Serious lack of posting here lately, I know. And it's not going to change for quite a while I'm afraid. It's a major struggle right now to maintain some semblance of a work/life balance, and at the moment work is definitely winning. We're talking working overtime almost every day, being on call 24/7, working several weekends, not being able to fall asleep because my brain won't shut off, waking up in the middle of the night to remember something that needs to go on my to-do list ... you get the idea.

Anyhoo, I haven't even really had time to do anything interesting worth blogging about - hence the lack of posts :) And please forgive me for not commenting on all your sites. I have been reading, I promise - it's often the highlight of my day!

All of this to say, I'll be taking a blogging break, probably until December when I hope to reach the end of this nightmarish work-laden tunnel. But I will be back! And I'll still be dropping by to visit all of you.

Monkey see...

2009-09-23T22:12:00.001-04:00

Today's laugh:

2009-09-22T10:03:00.004-04:00

I know it's been a while. Life has exploded since September started. I don't even really have time to be writing this, but I'm going to anyway! Here's a quick run down of what's been going on:

We had a great time visiting with a couple friends from university who came up to attend the U2 concert last week. It's fun being a tourist in your own city!
Work has gone absolutely crazy. My boss is steps away from having a breakdown, and the rest of us aren't too far behind. There's just too much to do and not enough time to get it all done. But we have to get it done anyway.
I now have to carry a blackberry around with me wherever I go, so that I'm always available should a work-related emergency come up. Boy am I thrilled about that.
My brother is getting married in less than 2 weeks. Last week he sent me an email asking me to play the piano for the wedding. We still haven't picked the music :)
TC has started back at school, and will be teaching a Shakespeare course for the winter semester. Which means he's now Professor TC. At least for 3 months.
It's been so busy that I haven't gotten groceries in over 3 weeks, other than picking up a necessity here and there.
I'm almost done the mystery crochet project that I've been working on, which means I'll hopefully be able to post pictures of it soon.
Our home church has started up for the year, so we've been attending various elders' meetings, training sessions, and kick-off events. It's good to get back into things though.

Right now the pace of our life has picked up to the point where I'm starting to feel like all I can do is dig in and hang on for dear life. The good thing is that I know this will pass, so I'm not as stressed out as I would have been a few years ago. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to laugh at life and enjoy the ride.

A little something to help with the laughter:

Limbo

2009-08-26T09:47:00.004-04:00

I haven't been posting too much lately, for no particular reason other than that not too much has been going on. It feels like we're in a kind of limbo, waiting for the effects of the actions that we've taken over the past couple of months.

We're now finished the home study process in our ongoing adoption saga, and have been approved as adoptive parents (yay!). We've decided that our first choice is to adopt through our local children's aid society, and I contacted them a few weeks ago to get things rolling only to run into a bit of a brick wall. Apparently, before we can be considered as adoptive parents, we have to attend an information session, which isn't too big a deal as it's a one-night thing. Then, because we've already done our training and home study, we can meet with the social worker right away and start being matched with potential children. Except that the next information session isn't until October 19th. So we wait.

In the meantime, because we did our home study and training through a private adoption agency, we also have the option of submitting a profile for that agency to use. What that means is that we need to put together a little book with pictures and a brief rundown of our life story, explaining why we'd be good parents, and give it to the agency. Then, when a birth mother comes to the agency, they provide her with the profiles of couples that meet whatever criteria she's set out, and she chooses which couple(s) she wants to meet with, and eventually which couple she wants to give her baby to. So we're currently sorting through our pictures, and waiting for some to come in from our folks (turns out we don't have to many pictures of ourselves, since we're always the ones behind the camera!), and trying to decide which ones should go in the profile.

Until we get all of that done, we wait. And surprisingly enough, I'm okay with that. I'm learning a lot about patience in this whole process, and trusting that just because things aren't necessarily proceeding the way I'd like them to doesn't mean that they aren't proceeding in the best way possible.

Living in 40+ degree heat - a balanced perspective :)

2009-08-18T11:08:00.004-04:00

~~~

I normally hate drinking water, but I'm so thirsty that I'm getting my 8 glasses a day.

I'm thirsty because I'm sweating buckets - yay for being stinky!

~~~

We have no a/c in our apartment, so sleep has been next to impossible.

I actually look forward to going in to work in the morning, because it's air conditioned.

~~~

It's too hot to eat anything that isn't essentially a liquid.

I've lost weight.

~~~

I'm not getting any housework done, because any prolonged movement puts you at risk of heat stroke.

I've discovered several new TV shows that I enjoy, and have caught up on my reading.

~~~

I haven't had to use moisturizer in a week, because the air is so humid it does the job for me.

I haven't had a good hair day in over a week.

~~~

Obviously speaking...

2009-08-12T08:36:00.003-04:00

I've been working in the corporate world for 3+ years now, yet the propensity for business-type people to state the obvious never ceases to amaze me. Yesterday I was in a workshop designed to help train performance managers, and one of the 'experts' delivered this line with all seriousness, as if were a pearl of great wisdom:

"To be a leader you have to get people to follow you."

Does that seem like a no-brainer to anyone else?

Thoughts on Walmart

2009-08-05T10:02:00.003-04:00

People often ask us why we've chosen not to shop at Walmart, and I've always found it difficult to articulate the reason. Not that we don't have one, it's just that I'm not an economist so my vocabulary in this area is rather limited. I came across an article the other day that summed it up pretty well, though (you can read it here). It basically comes down to 2 things:

1) Walmarts do initially create more jobs, but they're not "good" jobs, and in the long run they undermine the local economy.

2) Those low, low prices come at the expense of fair wages at almost every step in the production and distribution process.

In light of these two facts, TC and I have chosen to support local small businesses whenever we can. Things may cost a little more, but that's only because we're closer to paying the true cost for the item. As a bonus, we're a lot less likely to buy things that we don't really need. We've been doing pretty well, too. Since January, we've only purchased one thing at Walmart, and that was because it was the only place we could find it.

Please understand that I'm not condemning those who shop at Walmart. The fact that we don't is the result of a decision that TC and I made, based on our understanding of the world and the role we have in it. Not everyone would agree, and that's okay. But I am curious to know what you all think about Walmart. Is it good? Bad? Ugly? Are you completely okay with shopping there? Do you avoid it altogether? Or are you somewhere in between - shopping there but feeling slightly guilty about it?

Weekend of Wonderful-ness :)

2009-07-27T10:30:00.004-04:00

I had the most wonderful weekend! In fact, it was almost perfect. I got up nice and early on Saturday and headed out to our local farmer's market, where I chatted with the vendors and did some leisurely shopping before it got too crowded. The weather was perfect for it - sunny and warm with a nice fresh morning breeze - and I came home with two bags full of goodies, which included...

...blueberries that had been picked the day before, local Ontario cherries, organic sweet potatoes (and a couple of 'Oh Henry' potatoes that the vendor threw in because he thought I'd like them - I love markets!), fresh peas in the pod that I shelled when I got home, a dozen organic duck eggs, and a head of crisp leaf-y lettuce. My favourite purchase of the morning, though, was this:

A bouquet of fresh lavendar. It's now in my living room, and I spent all weekend sniffing it's lovely fragrance. It may eventually end up in some soap, but I haven't decided on that yet. For now I'm enjoying it right where it is :)

Once I'd come home and put all of my market finds away, I ran out to pick up the other groceries we'd need for this week, and started on the many loads of laundry that have been piling up because we'd been busy the past couple of weekends. By that time, it had clouded over and become ominously dark, and just after I had brought up the first load of dry clothes, the skies opened up in a torrential downpour that lasted all afternoon and most of the evening.

Have I mentioned before that I absolutely love rainstorms? I especially love them on days when all I'm doing is puttering around the house. It was perfect! I had some rolls in the oven, and a chicken ready to go in once the rolls were done, which made the house smell divinely comfortable. And between running downstairs to shift loads of laundry, I sat out on the sun-porch in my big comfy obesan chair, wrapped in an afghan and reading a good book while listening to the wind and rain. Heaven!

After supper, which included the aforementioned chicken and rolls, as well as the newly shelled peas and sweet potatoes, TC and I played a few rounds of Carcassonne. He'd found the game, with all of its pieces, at a local thrift store earlier last week for $1, and it has turned out to be one of our favourite games.

Sunday, we were off to church and lunch with friends, and then in the afternoon, while it continued to rain, I made these cookies with the left-over sweet potatoes. They're super yummy, so I have to share the recipe with all of you :)

Sweet Potato Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed sweet potato (you can also use canned pumpkin puree if that's
what you have on hand)
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1 - 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time until well blended. Mix in the vanilla and sweet potato. Combine the remaining ingredients and add to the wet mixture. Drop by tablespoonful onto greased or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets, and bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

I also spent quite a bit of time playing my piano and working on an afghan that is going to be absolutely gorgeous when it's done - I'm not going to post any pictures of it until then, which shouldn't take too awfully long, since I'm already about 1/6th of the way there.

All in all, it was an ideal weekend, and now it's Monday and I'm feeling wonderfully rested and refreshed :)

Another Pain in the Neck

2009-07-21T10:00:00.002-04:00

Do you remember way back in May '08, when I went to Washington and came back with a neck that wouldn't work? Well, I've managed to do it again, but this time without having to leave the country. I woke up on Tuesday unable to move my head without an intense burning pain shooting from my neck to my shoulder and then through to my chest. Sounds like fun, eh? I'm not quite sure what set it off this time, but it's probably a combination of stress and the fact that I had spent the entire weekend prior to that with my head turned at a 45 degree angle.

It's getting much better, thanks largely to my fabulous chiropractor, but I still don't have the full range of motion that I previously enjoyed (we're working on that). As a result, I've spent the last week having to explain to people why I couldn't turn my head to look at them. And you know what struck me as funny? Every single person - seriously, every single person - knew exactly what would make my neck better. I've been told to rest it, to make sure that I keep using it as much as possible, to ice it, to heat it, to stretch it, to massage it while stretching it, to avoid massaging it altogether, to take muscle relaxants, to take anti-inflammatory pain killers, to see an acupuncturist, to drink a particular kind of herbal tea, to get a type of electro-stimulation therapy...

I appreciate the fact that everyone was trying to help. Every bit of that advice was well intentioned and no doubt helped the person who gave it to me at some point, but the range of the remedies is just hilarious. At least to me :)

Eye of the Storm

2009-07-20T10:28:00.005-04:00

Life hasn't been completely swept up in the craziness of adoption.

This is my current crafty project. I fell in love with the yarn - it's so soft and fuzzy, and masculine enough for the men in my family who wouldn't be caught dead in something that's not an earth tone. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was destined to become a scarf. It's also the first thing I've knit (knitted?) on my new birch needles, and I don't think I'll be able to go back to metal or plastic. The yarn glides so beautifully, with just the right amount of hold so that stitches aren't slipping off.

A batch of cinnamon soap that is currently about 2 weeks into the curing process. My sunporch smells glorious! At least when the landlord's son who lives out back isn't "relaxing" in the evenings with his smouldering herb of choice.

The highlight of this past weekend, other than finishing the training course?

We went to see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood (of Whose Line Is It Anyway? fame) perform an improv comedy show on Saturday night. I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time - and did we ever need it!

And so life carries on in the midst of the whirlwind.

Slowly but surely...

2009-07-20T10:09:00.002-04:00

Okay, so things have been a little quiet here lately. To be completely honest, life has been a little overwhelming. The process of being recommended as adoptive parents is mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting - and we're still not quite there yet. The last 2 weekends have been spent at a training course, ostensibly designed to help prepare "resource families" for some of the challenges they face and make them aware of all the processes involved. I also think it's designed to scare the bejeezus out of you.

But it's done, and we have the certificate to say that we're sufficiently trained to become adoptive parents. One more hoop successfully jumped through. One more favourable judgment of our parental worthiness.

Things are looking 'Up'

2009-07-09T09:04:00.004-04:00

I'm not a big fan of going to see movies in the theatre. You can't pause it to go pee, there's always someone who feels the need to chat with their friend, my knees start to hurt because I can't stretch my legs out, the a/c is almost always too cold ... you get the idea. I much prefer to watch movies in the comfort of my own home, so please understand that I'm not saying this lightly: if you haven't done so already,

GO SEE PIXAR'S 'UP'!

We went last night with a bunch of friends from our home church, and I can honestly state without any exaggeration that it was one of the best movies I've seen in years. And because it's done in 3D, you really need to see it in the theatre to fully appreciate it. I don't want to tell you anything about it - I went in having no idea what it was about, other than an old man and a balloon covered house, and it completely blew me away. So go. Now. I promise you'll enjoy it :)

Tripping down memory lane

2009-07-08T10:32:00.006-04:00

There's a new meme doing the rounds over on facebook - you post a comment asking your "friends" to share a memory of you, good or bad (though unless your friends are jerks, they'll probably all be good). It's been fun to revisit those events and times, though there's been an unexpected side effect. All day today random memories have been popping into my head, things I haven't thought about in years. Like...

...sitting with my friend AG on the daily trip to high school on bus #27, listening to the driver's favourite radio station that for some unknown reason always played the same 2 songs at some point on the 30 minute journey: Breakfast at Tiffany's and King of Wishful Thinking.

...driving my mum's car the wrong way up an off-ramp at 12 am (I was completely sober) on a girl's night off from camp

...watching the Captian Power movie, and the cheesiest black & white movie on the planet with CH one summer Saturday ("Darling, you've given me a reason to buy orchids again." - they just don't write dialogue like that anymore!)

...cranking the music and dancing around the kitchen with cousin KL after making stir-fry for the very first time

...TC bringing flowers to my office at university because I'd emailed him about the rough day I'd been having - and how he got in trouble with my office-mate's boyfriend for raising the bar so high by delivering them while she was there to see him do it :)

...canoeing on the ocean one night with TC, Matt & Annie, while fervently hoping that Matt wouldn't flip the canoe

...getting lost with K & S on the way to Central New Annan, NS, because the instructions said to turn right at the big red store, which had been painted blue a few days before we arrived

...playing "Shark" with all the cousins - a game where one of us had to cross from one end of my grandmother's living room to the other, while the rest of us chose positions to lay on the floor and had to try to bring that person down using only our legs. Much bruising and laughter ensued.

...spending an entire day making tiny gourmet sandwiches with CL and JW for Sherrie's pre-wedding tea

I'll stop there, but the memories keep coming! What about you folks? What's the first memory that pops into your head when you start thinking back?

The adoption saga continues...

2009-07-06T08:59:00.006-04:00

It seems that we have entered another busy season! Work and life have gone a little crazy, but it doesn't stress me out nearly as much as it used to. I think I've finally come to the realization that the world won't end if I'm not able to get everything done on time, or at all. As long as I'm spending time with the people I care about, the rest will either get done when it gets done, or I'll realize that it's not as essential as I had thought it was :)

Part of the craziness is because of the ongoing adoption process, which is pretty time-consuming. We're finally finished our end of the paperwork, and are now waiting for all the security checks and references to come in. In the meantime we're in the interview stage of our home study, which involves a series of meetings with our adoption practitioner to talk about our families, our current situation in life, our relationships, and all our hopes/dreams/plans insofar as they relate to raising a family - essentially, everything he needs to know to get an idea of who we are and whether or not we'd be good parents. The last interview will also involve an inspection of our home, just to make sure there are no sharp pointy things sticking out of the walls or rats running around. At the same time, we have to take a 4-day training course, done over the next 2 weekends, designed to help prepare us for the issues surrounding parenting an adopted child.

The whole process is pretty intensive, and it raises a lot of questions that are kind of surreal. One of the things we have to do is determine what specifications we'd like for our children with regards to age, gender, race, and/or number. And how do you answer a question like "Are you willing to care for a physically or mentally delicate child?" If I were pregnant, it's not like we'd be choosing any of these things - they'd all be pre-determined, and we'd love them no matter what. But to be completely honest, nobody wants their child to have physical or mental difficulties. Does that mean such children are less deserving of a loving home than 'normal' kids? What level of 'willingness' is required? For what degree of 'delicacy'? How equipped are we to provide the necessary level of care?

Needless to say, there's a lot of thinking, talking and soul-searching going on in our household these days :)

Yummy Recipe Alert!

2009-06-26T09:48:00.003-04:00

My folks have been up visiting this week, and it's been great! Mum flew up on Tuesday night, and then my dad, because he's a crazy person, drove the 1492 km (he counted) and arrived Wednesday night. Just in time for a heat wave and a garbage strike :)

I love it when they come visit, which doesn't happen nearly often enough. If you've been reading this blog for very long, you know that one of the things that bothers me most about living in Toronto is that my family is so very far away, so it means so much to be able to share this little bit of life with them. Unfortunately I couldn't take any time off work, for various reasons, but I have been able to leave early each day, and then there's the weekend to look forward to.

Yesterday when I came home after work, I discovered these on the kitchen counter:

One major benefit of having Mum come to visit! These are rhubarb biscuits, and they're the yummiest thing I've had in quite a while. And because she's a sweetie, Mum gave me the recipe :)

Mum's Rhubarb Biscuits

Biscuit:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk
butter

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening until it's about the size of small peas. Stir in the milk, and then roll the dough out into a roughly rectangular shape (approx. 12" long). Spread entire surface with butter, being sure to get the edges too.

Filling:
3 cups rhubarb, very finely chopped
3/4 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp. flour

Combine the rhubarb, sugar and flour in a bowl. Sprinkle mixture over biscuit, and roll it up. Using a sharp knife, cut it into 1" thick slices and place in a 9x13" pan.

Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups boiling water

Stir sugar and water together until dissolved, and then pour it over the pan of biscuits. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Happy Weekend!

Passive Agressiveness

2009-06-24T11:40:00.004-04:00

As a self-confessed passive agressive, I can completely commiserate with the people who wrote the notes on my new favourite website, Passive Agressive Notes. For example:

Okay, so that's one's not so much passive agressive as funny, but if you're looking for a chuckle you should really check it out.

Paris: Part 3

2009-06-21T19:07:00.007-04:00

Okay, we're almost through - just a couple more days of photos to go! It's actually been kind of fun to relive the trip this way :)

Our third day in Paris was dedicated to 2 things: 1) Finding tickets to some kind of play/opera/show, and 2) the Louvre. We got up bright and early and started by looking around for a tourist bureau, since they tend to have information on all the happenings in the theatre world. Did you know that there is only one tourist bureau in Paris? And that it has virtually no useful information in it? We ended up traveling to every theatre icon on our map of Paris to see what was showing there, which actually turned out to be a good way to see more of the city. By noon, we'd found a play that TC wanted to attend so we bought the tickets, had some lunch, and made our way back to the Louvre.

If it isn't already there, make sure that visiting the Louvre is on your list of things to do before you die! Incredibly amazing, beautiful and overwhelming.

Even the courtyard when you first walk through the gates is beautiful, but then so is the rest of Paris, so I should have expected it. I know there are mixed opinions about the glass pyramid, which is where you enter the Louvre, but I quite like it. It's one of the few examples I've seen where modern architecture complements, and even adds to the existing structures, unlike the horrific ROM here in Toronto.

We were impressed by how efficiently the entry is run - it took no time to get our tickets and a map, and once we'd figured out what we wanted to see (because there's far too much to see everything in one visit) we set off. First up...

...the Cour Marly, a massive indoor courtyard filled with very impressive French sculpture. It was a really beautiful space, and one of the quietest sections of the museum.

This is the Code of Hammurabi, which is one of the most ancient examples of written law. We had studied about it in university, so it was quite exciting to actually see it. Can you imagine how long it took to carve all of that into the stone?

Here we have a statue of Ramses II, who is believed by some to have been the Pharoah of "Let my people go" fame.

Picture this guy, along with 35 of his friends, staring down at you from the top of a 21m high cedar beam as you entered the audience hall of Darius I of Persia. (Remember the king in the story of Daniel and the lions' den? That's him.) Methinks it might have been a little intimidating, yes?

We realized as we were climbing these stairs that they've obviously had a lot of visitors at the Louvre over the years! I wonder how long it will be before they wear through?

My favourite part was the section containing Roman sculpture. Before leaving for France, TC and I had just finished watching the BBC mini-series I, Claudius, which traces the history of the Roman imperial family from the perspective of Claudius, the emporer between Caligula and Nero. It's really quite excellent - I highly recommend it! Anyway, we were walking through the collection and lo and behold, there were the busts and statues of all the characters we'd been watching! Working clockwise from the top left, that's Claudius himself, Marcus Aurelius (who wasn't in the mini-series, but is the famous Stoic philosopher-emporer), Tiberius, and Livia (who did have a head, but the collage maker cut it off for some reason).

We visited some of the more famous exhibits as well, but as you can see in the picture above, they were quite crowded, which made it difficult to actually see whatever it was. That's as close as we were able to get to the Mona Lisa (it's behind the guy with the white shirt's head) without elbowing through the lot.

And, of course, the inverted pyramid of Davinci Code fame. I wonder how many of these people actually think the remains of Mary Magdelene are hidden below? Whatever else it may symbolize, I thought there was a nice symmetry in ending our visit to the Louvre here, since it began in the upper pyramid.

We were rather tuckered and culturally overloaded by the end of the day, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

Paris: Part 2

2009-06-17T22:13:00.004-04:00

On a much lighter note, I finally had time to post the pics from day 2 in Paris, which also happened to be my 29th birthday :) After having breakfast at the salon du the right next to our hotel, and being highly amused by the cheeky little birds that sat on our table and took the food out of our hands, we set out to hit the major tourist attractions. First up:

L'Arc de Triomphe. It's a truly amazing monument - much larger than I had pictured it in my head. With our metro passes, we were eligible for discounted tickets to go up inside the Arc, so we decided that this would be the place we'd get our view of Paris from above. One thing we didn't consider was that there was no elevator. Just lots and lots of winding stairs. Fortunately, there are two stopping-off places on the way up - one is a display area with explanations of the various features of the Arc, and the second a gift shop - so we could take a breather. It was well worth the climb, though.

Isn't that gorgeous? The Arc is in the middle of a huge rotary, which didn't appear to have any kind of lines or guides. We had a great deal of fun watching the drivers go all over the place. One little green mini-cooper must have driven around the Arc five or six times before it figured out how to get where it wanted to go :)

We made it back down in one piece, and went for a walk up the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, where we had lunch at a little outdoor cafe, and then headed off to that most famous of Parisian landmarks:

The Eiffel Tower. That's me, standing at the Eiffel Tower, on my birthday. Pretty awesome. We didn't bother going up, since the line was the length of two or three soccer fields, but it really is a remarkable structure. The pictures don't really convey the sheer massiveness of it - I've always thought it looked almost dainty, but up close it seemed much sturdier and more substantial.

Our next stop:

The Opéra Garnier. This is the opera house that inspired the Phantom of the Opera. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, but the lighting in the place was really bizarre, and our poor little camera couldn't handle it :) The picture above is the grand staircase (obviously) leading into the auditorium.

This is the foyer. Walking through the building, we were both completely overwhelmed by the sheer opulence of the place. Everything about it was showy and grand, which I suppose was it's purpose. Who wants to go to a shabby opera house?

When we came out, there was a full brass band on the front steps of the opera house doing their thing. Not a Salvation Army type brass band, more like a swing band. They were really good, so we stopped (along with about 100 other people) and sat on the steps to listen for a while. Then we headed back across the Seine to...

...the Jardin du Luxembourg. What a beautiful garden! One of my favourite things about it was that it was full of statues like the one above, many of various influential women in France's history. Queens, saints, noblewomen - but all women. This one is Catherine de Medici.

There were also a couple of beautiful water features. This one is the Medici fountain, but in the middle of the garden was a large pond-ish affair, where kids were sailing little boats.

After all the running around we'd been doing, we were pooped! Or at least I was - TC could keep going forever if he put his mind to it. Anyhoo, we decided to head back to the vicinity of our hotel to have dinner, which was a 2+ hour affair. They really take their food seriously - no rushing it! By the time we were done, we were ready to call it a day.

2009-06-15T09:58:00.003-04:00

I wrote this post back in April, mainly because I needed somewhere to express some thoughts, but I couldn't publish it yet as it contained some things that we weren't quite ready to make public. We're finally at the point where it can be shared, though, so here it is.

TC and I are infertile. We've been trying for more than two years now to have a baby, with no success whatsoever. It's been a hard process, though a learning one. At first we were so ignorant of everything that was involved (besides the obvious), but when it seemed like things weren't happening very quickly, I went out and learned as much as I could about what needs to happen to conceive and what the best ways are to ensure that the necessary stars align. All to no avail.

We went to the doctor and did all the testing only to discover that there's nothing wrong with either of us as far as they can tell. And yet every month I suffer through symptoms that could be caused by either PMS or early pregnancy, only to discover once again that I'm not pregnant.

Once we passed the one year mark, I used to get really down for the first few days after I realized we weren't going to be parents yet. It would hurt to see someone going by with their small children, not that I begrudged anyone their ability to have children. I just couldn't help but watch them and long for one of my own.

People would ask us when we planned on having kids, not realizing the hurt they were causing by reminding us of our infertility, or the choice they were forcing us to make between lying to be polite ("Not yet, maybe later, we're not ready yet, ha ha ha...") and being brutally honest ("We've been trying for a while now, but can't seem to conceive, thanks for bringing up something that's none of your damn business..."). We've always opted to be polite, even if it meant lying, mainly because we realized that everyone who asked meant well - they just didn't know better.

Our close friends and family knew. We'd told them that we were trying, not long after we first started, and most of them are terrific. But not all of them. I think one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do was keep my mouth shut through that seemingly interminable Christmas visit to my in-laws, where no effort was spared to make us aware of the fact that they wanted grandchildren and could we please hurry up and fix whatever we were doing wrong. If we hadn't been able to vent to some of our closest friends, who lived nearby, I don't know what we would have done.

I've come to terms with the fact that we seem to be unable to conceive, though no one can tell us why. I didn't realize this before, but apparently 1/3 of all cases of infertility are unexplainable. Medical science in its current state cannot always diagnose the problem. We are part of that third. Not that that has made it any easier. In fact, it makes it harder, since there is nothing we can pin it on, no scapegoat for our childless existence, nothing we can try to fix.

There are other options, I know. We decided early on in our relationship that if we weren't able to have children, our first choice would be adoption. There are too many children without families in the world for us to justify the expense of all the different fertility treatments that are available. I was ready to start looking into adoption almost a year ago, but TC wasn't.

Many of his favourite books contain themes about family and the intangible connections of blood. In the small community that he comes from, you are judged largely by the family you're a part of. Someone will do something, good or bad, and the general commentary will be along the lines of, "Well, that's what you can expect from a Smith - his uncle/brother/cousin/grandfather/etc. was just the same way." Your blood determines who you are, how you behave, what you become. He worried about not being able to really connect or understand any child that wasn't his own flesh and blood.

I had considered this reality as well, but in a different context. I come from a family replete with adoptions, and my adopted relatives have never been treated any differently, or even talked about as being anything other than family, which is what they are as far as we are all concerned. Which isn't to say that I couldn't understand where my husband was coming from, or that I thought his concern wasn't valid. It was an issue that I'd had to work through as well, it was just taking him longer to do so.

It also took him longer to accept the reality of our infertility. Throughout this whole process, he's been content to let me do all the research. He's just not that interested in learning more about it, and that's okay. Just because I felt the need to understand everything inside and out didn't mean he had to, and it didn't mean he wasn't working through it all in his own way.

After almost two and a half years, though, we're finally on the same page and have started looking into adoption, with plans to start the process in the summer.

Well, summer is now here, and the process has begun. And it's completely over-whelming. We're in the very beginning stages, which means lots and lots of paperwork. That's one of the reasons it's taking me so long to post our France pics :)

We have a stack of forms an inch thick to fill out, plus getting police and child welfare checks done from everywhere we've lived since we were 18, and being finger-printed to make sure we're not connected to any unsolved crimes, and collecting references from people to confirm we're not wackos, and medical reports so they know we won't keel over next month - I could keep going! I'm glad the system takes such care to protect the children it's responsible for, but I wish there was some way we could just tell them that we're healthy, non-crazy people and have them believe us :)

It's going to be a long process, taking anywhere from 6 months to several years before having a child placed with us, but at least we've started. And you can probably expect to see a few more posts about it before we're through!

Paris: Part 1

2009-06-08T19:52:00.003-04:00

Okay - on to the Paris pics! We left Nancy very early in the morning...

TC is going to love me for posting that one :) After a 2-hour train ride, the purchase of week-long metro passes and a trip on the subway, we arrived without too much ado at our hotel. It's the building on the right, just before the blue awning.

The awning, by the way, was for a little salon du the, and the yellow awning right across the street was for a book store. Could we have been any more ideally located? Methinks not! The hotel was right in the Latin Quarter, which is a wonderful spot, though pretty touristy. Lots of little windy streets to explore and get lost in. And at night, the place is party central (though we aren't partiers, we thoroughly enjoyed watching those who were).

One of the many, many bridges that cross the Seine. I've seen lots of pictures of Paris, and watched plenty of movies set in that city, but to be completely honest, they're no comparison at all to the real thing. I'm not sure I can adequately describe it. Everywhere you look, it's beautiful. Seriously - everywhere.

Since it was only a 5 minute walk from our hotel, after we checked in and dropped off our luggage, we headed onto the Ile de la Cite and went to Notre Dame.

The pictures don't do it justice, but it's breath-taking. The inside was a little less so, mainly because it was so crowded, but it was still an awe inspiring experience. Afterward, we sat in the shadow of Notre Dame and shared a sandwich that we'd bought from a little vendor across the street. Have I mentioned yet that the food in France is amazing? Even the sandwiches - I don't know what they do differently, but they're yummy!

The only thing on TC's must-see list was this bookstore: Shakespeare & Co. It's an English bookstore in the heart of Paris, and has a rather famous history.

And a raven. This is one of the 16 pictures TC took of the store (no lie). Have I mentioned that my husband is a bibliophile? And apparently a shutterbug as well!

This is me while he was running around taking pictures. The entire upper level of the store is a reading area, filled with books that aren't for sale but can be read while you're there. It's actually quite lovely. I started reading David Copperfield, which we then found a used copy of downstairs and bought so that I could continue reading it.

Oh, there was one other thing on TC's must-see list: Cafe Procope, which is the oldest restaurant in Paris. We never did eat there, as it was kind of pricey, but apparently lots of famous people have. I mean historically famous, like Robespierre, not Paris Hilton famous. (Quick aside - why is she famous anyway? I've never understood that.)

That's pretty much it for day one in Paris, but there's still more to come!

Yay - it's summer!

2009-06-08T09:19:00.003-04:00

What a lovely weekend! It was the first one that has felt like a summer weekend, which is my favourite kind :) We were able to get outside and enjoy the warm sunshine, attend a friend's baptism, as well the birthday party for our little friend H who turns 2 today, and still manage to get some stuff done around the house.

One of the first things we did was to give TC a haircut. We recently purchased a razor for $30 so that I can cut his hair at home rather than having him go to the hairdresser every 3 weeks. The end result:

Not too bad for a first attempt, I think (though he doesn't really look all that enthused about it, does he?). We have determined that next time I'll leave it longer on the top, and I need to go a little easier around the ears, but all in all we were very pleased. And in two more cuts, we'll have paid for the razor :)

I also made some yummy apple-cinnamon muffins. I'd post the recipe, but I don't have it with me right now. It's from this book, though, which I have mixed feelings about recommending. It supposedly has 250 muffin recipes, but I've noticed that some of the recipes are actually identical. For example, there are 2 banana chocolate chip muffin recipes - one called Banana Chocolate Chip, and the other Chocolate Chip and Banana. The difference in the recipes? One uses metric measurements and the other imperial. All of the recipes that I've tried from the book have been very good, but I don't like to support that kind of sneakiness.

On Saturday morning, we went for a walk and came home with this little guy from our local florist. I have no idea what he is, but isn't he adorable? I wanted a little plant to have on my desk at work, but needed something that doesn't require a whole lot of sunlight, so the florist recommended him. I'm really hoping I manage not to kill him.

We also picked up this hanging geranium, at TC's request, to put in our sunporch. I love the bright, cheery red - geraniums are such happy looking flowers, don't you think?

Last but not least, we stopped at our local hardware store to pick up some magnetic tape so that I could finish making these fridge magnets. Aren't they cute? They're a birthday gift for my future sister-in-law, and since she lives in a different province I had the extra challenge of finding a gift that met my gift-giving resolution requirements and could be sent through the mail. These fit the bill rather nicely, I think :)

That's pretty much the weekend in review. I'm hoping to get the rest of our France pics up this week, but my land we took a lot of pictures in Paris! I don't want to subject you to 30 pictures of Notre Dame from every possible angle, so it's taking me a little while to sort through and select the highlights. They'll be coming soon!

How do you argue with that?

2009-06-04T09:01:00.004-04:00

There are very few things that annoy me more than absolute statements: "You always do that" or "That never happens." I know that when people say such things, it's usually an exaggeration for the sake of making a point. I've even been known to do it myself on occasion. But it still bugs the crap out of me, because in the back of my head I know that it's rarely true. Exceptions exist.

My darling husband is no stranger to the absolute statement, which has often been the cause of some rather lively discussions between the two of us. Last night, however, he really outdid himself. And I quote:

"It's not like we always never think of it that way."

All I could do was laugh.

France: Part 3 (the countryside)

2009-05-30T13:20:00.006-04:00

The following day had been set aside for a jaunt through the countryside, which is always a priority for me. I live in a city, so when I'm on vacation, I want to see some green! At least part of the time :) I woke up that morning and walked out of the room to see...

A breakfast of champions! Do you see the pile of pastries on each plate? Mmm. So yummy. Our lovely hosts, who had been up for a little while, ran out to the local patisserie first thing and picked them up still warm from the oven. Heaven, people. Pure heaven.

Then we all piled into our little rental car. I drove while KP navigated, and the boys sat in the back and did their best to drive/navigate from there :) Our first stop...

Actually, there was nothing there except the sign but we had to stop and take a picture. How awesome would it be to be able to say that you lived in Sexey aux Forges? On to the next stop!

I've always wanted to visit a winery, so what better time than when driving through the French countryside? We found one in Lucey, and were given a tasting by the guy in the red sweatshirt. His name was David (pronounced Da-veed), and his family had run this winery for several generations. The region is best known for producing two things - a gris, which is a white wine version of a rose, and the mirabelle, a type of plum used to create various wines and liqeurs. All in all, we tried 2 different gris, a white wine, a pinot noir, a mirabelle liquer, a mirabelle brandy, and then the mirabelle liquer mixed with a sparkling wine. As the driver, I only had a very tiny bit of each, but they were all quite good. We ended up buying a bottle of the mirabelle liquer and a bottle of gris.

It was decided that before we jumped back in the car, we'd walk around a bit and try to find somewhere to have a picnic. Lucey turned out to be a very picturesque little village! The old winepress above was in a little park right next to the winery we'd visited. As we were sauntering about, David drove by and then stopped and told us about a water garden in the area. We looked, but weren't able to find it, so we sat at the first picnic table we came across and watched the local kids play soccer.

Our next stop was an abandonned abbey, which you see above. That was as close as we could get without trespassing (I took the picture through the iron gate that kept us out) - apparently it's only open to the public on Sundays.

That was a problem we ran into quite a bit in France - at least outside Paris. Things seem to be open whenever they feel like it, rather than following their posted hours, if they had any.

Everywhere we went, there were fields upon fields of canola. It was gorgeous!

Our last stop of the day was in the little town of St-Mihiel. Other than the cathedral, there wasn't much to see - at least that was open. But the cathedral was one of my favourites. You could tell while walking around that it's main purpose was to be used by an active congregation, not just to look pretty.

After having a little snack, we headed back to Nancy, driving through village after village, each with it's own little church, and flower-lined streets, and fields of canola.

France: Part 2 (Strasbourg)

2009-05-29T15:41:00.007-04:00

On the next day of our trip, we took a train to Strasbourg in Alsace, which is close to the German border. In fact at several points in its history, Alsace has been part of Germany, and the dual influence shows.

That's TC headed down one of the many side streets, which all seem to be shared equally between pedestrians and vehicles of every type. Just a little further down this one, we came across...

...an extremely yummy-looking window display! I had to stop and take a picture, even though we were there before the place opened. I could write for days about the pastries and desserts that we had in France - chocolate mousse, apple honey and almond crepes, vanilla gelato with fresh raspberries, meringues. I need to stop. I'm making myself hungry.

Strasbourg, like almost every other French city or town, has a beautiful cathedral. They're really quite something - everything is more than functional, it's also aesthetically pleasing. We decided it would be a good idea to climb to the observation platform at the top, which meant a good 25 minute climb up a narrow set of circular stairs.

A shot from a window part of the way up gave a really nice view of the buttresses (I think that's what they're called - any architects out there?).

And then the view of the city from the top was definitely worth the climb! It was a clear, sunny day, so we could see quite a ways. Do you see all the windows in the roofs? I learned while there that the reason so many older French buildings are designed that way is that houses were taxed based on the number of rooms, but any that were above the roof line weren't included.

Ever wonder what graffiti looked like before spray paint?

Yup. Pre-spray paint graffiti. "Baron de Seckendoree wuz here 1770" :)

After we made it back to the bottom of the cathedral, we decided that for the sake of our now rather jello-like legs it would be a good time to take a boat cruise through the city. Do you see the German influence in the buildings pictured above? It was a wonderful way to get an overview of Strasbourg and it's history, and really, what better way to spend the rest of the morning than cruising down a river in the sun? All the Strasbourg-ians had come out to eat their lunches along the river, and waved when we came by, which I though was very friendly.

This is where we had our lunch. Alsace is known for its cuisine, so we wanted to try some traditional Alsatian dishes. All of them - heavy cream doused, deep fried, cheese laden meat and refined flour. And incredibly tasty. My arteries were glad we were only there for a day.

After lunch we visited the Alsatian museum. The inner courtyard was beautiful! As for the museum itself, it really wasn't all that remarkable. Lots of ovens, and lots of wardrobes - at least one per room, and often more.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around, looking at all the sights and the people. I got a kick out of the church pictured above. Do you see anything that looks a little off? Apparently, the guy who built this church back in the day messed up a bit when he got to the top. According to the guide, the congregation beat the tar out of him. In good Christian love, no doubt...

All in all, it was a fun day. We headed back to Nancy around 6:00, arriving at 8:30, which is dinner time in France. KP and I were pooped, so we stayed home and sent the boys out to pick up some pizza. Can I just say that pizza makers in Nancy must be on crack? The boys brought home 4 different kinds, and each one was an experience. One had doritos on it. Who puts doritos on a pizza?

Speaking of pizza, I think I'll order one for dinner tonight. Minus the doritos.

France: Part 1

2009-05-28T10:58:00.006-04:00

I just can't seem to get ahead this week. I'm finally getting over the jetlag, and wham! TC gives me the cold/flu that he picked up on the last day of our trip. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, but I tried so hard not to get it - washing my hands, using sanitizer, making him sleep on the futon, taking my vitamins and echinacea. Alas, all to no avail. So today, instead of going to work I am sitting on my couch watching the Price is Right, blowing my way through my second box of kleenex, drinking orange juice and blogging :)

On the bright side, that means I have time to post some more pictures! Here are some of the highlights of our first full day in France (the day we arrived was pretty much a write-off).

We spent the first part of our trip visiting with our friends JP & KP, who moved to Nancy earlier this year. Nancy, which is in Lorraine, is a beautiful city, so we spent the day exploring it. The picture above was taken in Place Stanislas, the huge town square which is surrounded by all of this beautiful gilded ironwork. The downtown area of the city is very cute and medieval, with tiny winding streets, and lots of interesting little shops. And it's only slightly touristy :)

After looking around downtown, JP & KP (that's them walking down the lane - aren't they cute?) took us to the Pépinière, a public garden. Let me say right now that the French definitely have the whole public space thing down pat. And their gardens and parks? Beautiful!

Except for the knobby trees, which were everywhere. Apparently they cut them back like this every year so that they form specific shapes when the leaves bloom. This one will look like a square, or so I was told.

The rest of it was amazing, though. Lush green everywhere we looked, and quite a few flowers though there aren't any in this picture. No, that's not true - you can see some white ones through the arch if you look closely.

The park also had a little zoo, which contained these guys, among other animals. The ape, whose name was JoJo, took a real liking to TC and came right over to see him when we walked by his enclosure. I'm tempted to conjecture as to why the attraction to TC, but it might be best if I refrain from doing so :)

Now that's a clock! It was right on time too, which means I took this picture at around 1:40pm. Just around the corner from here was a long lane that was lined with tents housing the wares of every patisserie in town, who were there to celebrate the "Fete du Pain". We sat on a bench for a while and just breathed in the smell of fresh bread. And listened to the really bad English techno-dance music that seems to be so popular in France.

We ended our day with a walk through a different part of town, where we saw this rainbow. How perfect is that?

My head thinks it's 2am...

2009-05-26T19:59:00.005-04:00

Whew - still dealing with the jetlag. I left work a little early today because I couldn't put complete sentences together or remember the names of people I work with every day. Sigh. On a brighter note, I've downloaded (uploaded?) the pictures from the camera and can start posting them for you to see. There are over 400 of them, so strap in! Just kidding - we'll stick to the highlights :)

Here are a couple of teasers:

This was a snack we had at a little cafe next to the Seine on our last night in Paris - citron fruit pressé, which is essentially make your own lemonade, and crème brûlée. According to TC, I now need to learn how to make it. I am more than willing to try. Anyone have a good recipe?

Alli, I took this pic for you! We were walking through the Île de la Cité the same night, and I spotted a shop that sold nothing but the most beautiful orchids. Unfortunately the lighting is a little off (taking pictures through a shop window at night is kind of tricky), and since we were leaving the next morning we couldn't go back to see it in the daytime. But the orchids were lovely!

We're Back! I think...

2009-05-25T16:33:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone! We're back from France and had a wonderful time. At the moment I'm extremely jet-lagged, since it's currently 10:30 pm in my head when it's really only 4:30 pm - it's going to be a long night...

I'll be back again in the next couple of days once we get our pictures downloaded. For now, it's laundry time!

One more sleep...

2009-05-14T15:53:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! I just popped in to let you know that not much will be happening here for the next 10 days or so...because I'm going to be in France!! Not that I'm excited. I'll tell you all about it once I get back, so until then, au revoir :)

This and that

2009-05-07T13:00:00.003-04:00

Where on earth does the time go? I feel like I just sat down and wrote the last post, and it's already been a week! Yowza. On the bright side, I've been crossing things off my ever-growing list like mad, and it's finally looking manageable :)

On a different note, I learned this week why I've been hobbling around on my left foot for the past couple of months. Apparently I have plantar fasciitis, which is kind of like tennis elbow, except in your heel. Painful, but treatable by wearing proper footwear and stretching. I was glad to find that out, since we're planning on doing a lot of walking in France and I didn't want to have to contend with something more serious.

Speaking of France, our trip preparations are in full swing. I've started my packing list, and am gathering the items that we'll need but don't already have on hand (i.e. Euros, emergency numbers, etc.). Our friends JP & KP, who we'll be visiting in Nancy, have asked us to bring them a power bar, caesar salad dressing, soda crackers and chapstick in the black tube. Apparently these are hard to come by over there :) Eight days from now, we'll be on the plane. So exciting!

Another exciting development - my dad is going to be in town for a few hours on Friday while he's between flights, so I get to have dinner with him. Yay! That also gives me the opportunity to send my mum's Mother's Day gift home with him, although I don't yet know what it's going to be :)

That's all I can think of to update you about for now. Between the last paragraph and this I spent three hours running around the office with a couple of maintenance guys, moving stuff - or rather explaining why they were moving stuff to everyone who walked by and just had to know - so I'm pretty much wiped. I'm going to head home in a few minutes, cook some stir fry and head out to a friend's place for games night. Ciao!

I'm so proud!

2009-05-01T18:45:00.003-04:00

Do any of these guys look familiar? I'll give you a hint - I'm married to one of them!

Yes, it's true - you're looking at TC's acting debut. My honey - the "Behemoth". The director of this commercial is connected to Massey College, so when he put out a call for extras, TC answered. Who knew I'd be married to a star? :)

(PS - Sorry for the wierd formatting. I'm not sure why it's doing that.)

Rainy Thursday at the Opera

2009-05-01T10:39:00.004-04:00

I love rain. There's very little that I enjoy more than the feeling of a rainy day, as I sit all warm and cozy inside listening to the wind and the pitter-patter of the rain hitting the windows. I love the smell of wet earth, and the extra vibrancy that the rain gives anything green.

I do not, however, enjoy it quite as much when walking about in soaking wet shoes and pants that I just discovered were a little too long, as they sopped up more water with every step I took. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had been on my way home, where I could change into something warm and dry, but I was not. TC had gotten tickets to the COC's performance of La Bohème last night, so after work I headed to the southwest corner of Queen St. W and University Ave. where we had arranged to meet. We then walked a couple of blocks to Jack Astor's to have dinner, and back to the Four Seasons Centre in time for the opera. By that time, I was soaked from the knees down.

I was still looking forward to the performance, though, since La Bohème is one of those operas that everyone has heard about, and the COC usually puts on a wonderful show. Not so much the case this time. It started at 7:30, and finished a little before 10:30, which is pretty standard. However, normally there is only one intermission. Last night there were three, each around half an hour long. So of the three hours that we were there, half of it was spent sitting and waiting for the next act to start. I could understand the need for the intermissions - there was a set change between eact act, so some time was needed to make it happen. But the sets were so complex that it took forever, which made it difficult to get back into the performance once it finally started up again. It would have been far better, in my humble opinion, to use simpler sets that set up quickly and allowed the story to flow in a less disjointed manner, especially since the location of each scene wasn't really all that important as the story was completely character driven.

Added to this was the fact that directly behind us sat a young woman of high school age who insisted on emitting a high pitched, whiny, mewling "Oh!", every time one of the characters sang or did anything that could be considered romantic (i.e. every 5 minutes), as though it was necessary to inform everyone around her that this was a moment of pathos and wasn't it just precious? By the end of act 3 I was ready to toss her off the balcony. We were five stories up.

Otherwise, it was thoroughly enjoyable :) The performances were all fairly good or better, and there's a reason it's one of the most popular operas of all time. You can't go completely wrong when you have good material.

That being said, I was glad to get home and put on dry jammies, curl up in bed and listen to the wind blow the rain against our window until I fell asleep.

Check and Check :)

2009-04-29T09:21:00.004-04:00

I'm always so much more productive when I take the time to make a list! Check out all I've managed to get done already:

16. Charge the batteries for our camera so I can start taking pictures again! √

Isn't this tree gorgeous? It's right across the street from me, and I love walking by it every day on my way to and from work. It's always the first to bloom every spring - does anyone know what kind of tree it is?

1. Re-pot my houseplants that have outgrown their current homes. √

This was fun! The trickiest part was re-potting the samona (top right) without getting pricked by its thorns, but it was well worth the risk just to be able to play in the dirt :)

2. Pick up the clothes that have erupted all over the floor and wash them. √

Despite appearances, I'm not quite done this one yet - there's still one load to be folded. But when the second-last load came out of the dryer at 11:30 last night, I had to throw in the towel and go to bed. TC will (hopefully) get the last one done before he heads out this morning, though, so I'm counting it as done.

18. Randomly select winner of mystery gift from previous post and send the gift. √

Except I haven't sent the gift yet :) Austen, if you'll email your address to bloomingpatterns at gmail dot com, I'll get it in the mail asap. Thank you all for your wonderful book and author suggestions - I'm looking forward to some good reading in the next little while.

4. Order a shampoo bar. √

The wonderfully talented and generous Sherrie of Birch Bark Soap fame has offered to send me a shampoo bar to try. I can't wait - thank you so much Sherrie! Her soaps are amazing, so be sure to check out her etsy shop and order a few :)

12. Get milk. √

15. Book a massage at the spa. √

Done and done. Not bad for a little less than a day, eh?

To Do This Week:

2009-04-28T09:34:00.005-04:00

Re-pot my houseplants that have outgrown their current homes.
Pick up the clothes that have erupted all over the floor and wash them.
Listen to old mix tapes and determine if they're worth keeping.
Order a shampoo bar - Sherrie, do you make those? Or know someone who does? I want to try one to see if they work.
Order some books from Chapters with my gift certificate (thanks for all the wonderful suggestions, folks!).
Plan crocheting lesson for a friend who wants to make a baby afghan.
Start making list of what to pack for our upcoming trip to France (17 days and counting...).
Arrange for someone to cover my shift in the nursery the Sunday we're away.
Buy a pile of non-electric pencil sharpeners. Did you know that many African children become infected with HIV because the only thing they have to sharpen their pencils with is their father's old razor? A friend is going to Africa next week and has asked everyone to bring in as many pencil sharpeners as we can.
Pick up one more skein of yarn to finally finish the latticework afghan.
Photocopy some sheet music and return the originals to their owner (I know, I know - I'm a criminal).
Get milk.
Look into sources of local, preferably organic produce this summer.
Come up with an idea for celebrating mother's day that doesn't require buying gifts (any suggestions?).
Book a massage at the spa.
Charge the batteries for our camera so I can start taking pictures again!
Call the folks.
Randomly select winner of mystery gift from previous post and send the gift.

That ought to keep me occupied! Have you all been out enjoying the glorious spring, even summer weather? TC and I went for a walk last night to pick up the soil for item #1, and it was lovely! The grass is green, the trees all have leaves, and some have started to blossom; daffodils and pansies and tulips are everywhere - it's a beautiful time of year.

Along the way to the hardware store, TC got ice cream while I got some sour gummie bears, which reminded me of all the summers I managed to beg a dollar from my mom to spend on penny candy at the local convenience store. Good times! We got home exhausted, TC from carrying 10 lbs of dirt for half an hour, and me from forgetting that it was 30 degrees out and over-dressing.

It's a warm, rainy day today - the kind that makes the earth smell delicious, and the worms come out to play on the sidewalks. A puddle-jumping kind of day. I'm going to have to find one on my way home :)

Book Contest

2009-04-22T09:57:00.009-04:00

I'm back! It's been a while, hasn't it? Last week was...well, it was something I'd rather not have to repeat anytime soon. Let's leave it at that, shall we? Even thinking about it is starting to stress me out.

Maybe it's a result of that stress, but lately I've been in a reading mood. I've always loved reading - my parents had a hard time keeping me in books growing up - and for the past few days all I've really wanted to do is curl up with a cup of tea and a blanket and lose myself in the pages of a good book. At the rate I'm going, though, I'm going to run out of books before I run out of steam. Fortunately I can read and enjoy a book more than once, but I'm already past that point, so now I need your help.

I find it difficult to choose a new book or author without some kind of recommendation - here's where you come in. Leave a comment on this post with the name of your favourite author(s) and/or book(s) that you have enjoyed reading, and next Wednesday I'll randomly select one person to receive a lovely mystery gift from me.

Oh, and happy earth day!

Tuesday Recap

2009-04-15T11:14:00.004-04:00

Only thing that made me smile = Having TC call me at work just to tell me he loves me.

Least stressful task accomplished = Going to the dentist to have 3 holes drilled into my teeth and then filled.

Most challenging task accomplished = Trying to eat supper with half of my mouth and all of my tongue completely frozen.

Lesson learned vicariously = Don't vent frustration by posting violent threats to co-workers on facebook, especially if some of those co-workers are your facebook friends and can read said post.

Discouraging realization = I misread the pattern for a crocheting project I'm currently working on while commuting. Had to frog half of it.

Amount of holy-crap-you-want-that-done-by-when? work done = Not nearly enough.

I can't wait for this week to be over.

(On an unrelated note, why is it that when I have lots of time I can't think of anything to post, but when I have no time, all kinds of ideas pop into my head and I feel the almost uncontrollable urge to blog?)

Playing hooky

2009-04-14T09:01:00.009-04:00

The computer program I'm supposed to be working on is currently on the fritz, so I'm going to take full advantage of that and come talk with you folks - I'm so bad ;)

Things have been rather hellish at work lately. In fact, the highlight of the last few days was when I accidentally spilled a glass of water on my laptop, quite efficiently frying it. Why was that the highlight? Because while IT was trying (unsuccessfully) to salvage my hard drive, I got to take a lunch break that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Of course, that also put me behind in the holy-crap-you-want-that-done-by-when? amount of work I have to do, and I lost a few crucial files, but I'm all about focusing on the silver lining...or trying to.

Drat. The program is working again.

Pause...

2009-04-09T12:04:00.002-04:00

I know things have been pretty quiet over here lately. It seems that I'm in the middle of a busy cycle, both professionally and personally. I'll be posting more hopefully after next week - see you then!

Caffiene Nation

2009-04-01T10:27:00.003-04:00

I had an interesting conversation with the lady who is conducting a training session I've been in since yesterday. She's American, although that really has very little to do with it, and early in the session she mentioned that every night at around 11:00 pm she brews a pot of coffee (apparently strong enough to float a horseshoe) and drinks it before she goes to bed. Then later in the day, as part of a different conversation she mentioned that she suffered from insomnia for 2 years until she started taking medication to help her sleep.

Does anyone else see the connection? Apparently she doesn't.

Curtains, Crafts and Cussedness

2009-03-30T08:49:00.008-04:00

Don't you just love tulips? We had an almost perfect spring day here in TO on Saturday, and let me tell you, I took full advantage of it! TC was gone for most of the day, which provided the perfect opportunity to get so much done...after going for a little walk to McD's for some breakfast and people watching, of course :)

The biggest project that I accomplished was to take down, wash, dry, iron and rehang all of our curtains, which hasn't been done since we first moved in almost four years ago (it's at times like this that I really miss having a clothesline). I must have spent about 6 hours ironing on Saturday afternoon, but it was worth it. Incidently, did you know that prolonged sessions of ironing can give you blisters? Fun fact.

Between ironing and waiting for the next load of laundry to finish, I finally got around to taking some pictures of the various crafty things I've been up to. This is the batch of vanilla soap I made last weekend, which is now curing out on the sunporch. It smells so good, I can't wait to try it!

This hat has been the bane of my existence for the past two months. It's a lovely design, and I quite like the look of it, but the pattern was way off in terms of size. I used the recommended yarn and the correct needle size, and when I followed the pattern exactly, ended up with a tiny hat that fits a baby, not the "average lady's head" as it claimed. I made some alterations, and version 2.0 was wide enough, but too short. This is version 3.0, and it's just right. I guess I should probably start swatching.

My Jaywalker socks, which I finished a little while ago but haven't posted about because I hadn't gotten around to taking pictures yet. I love them - they're extremely pretty and very comfy. Plus it's supremely satisfying to wear something that you've made yourself :)

I also did some major organizing of my craft supplies - moving all the leftover yarn from various projects into storage, sorting through the collection of patterns, and getting rid of the ones that, realistically, I'll never use. Then I sat down and made a list of all the people I need to give gifts to this year, and decided what I'd be making or giving them that would fit the criteria of my gifting resolution. It's looking like there will be no shortage of projects to work on between now and December 31st :)

If I ever finish the cussed top-stitching afghan, that is.

Dreams and Drudgery

2009-03-27T11:02:00.003-04:00

I really need to dig out the camera and get some pictures up! Life has been trundling along pretty much non-stop for the last little while, so my efforts here have been less than they could be :) Most of my free time is spent working on the Latticework Afghan that I'm making as a wedding present for some friends who got married over a month ago. This sucker is taking forever! The top-stitching is super-pretty, but it means that you're essentially making 2 afghans, one stitched on top of the the other. It will get done, though, sooner or later (probably later).

I'm also starting to dream about what I'm going to try to grow in my little garden this year. Last year's garden was a complete disaster. Every plant was destroyed by some type of bug - the lettuce by aphids, the beans by an unidentified black bug that hung on the underside of the leaves, and everything else by spider mites. All I managed to harvest was 3 tiny tomatoes and a few stalks of swiss chard. I threw out all the soil/mulch/etc. and left the pots out in the unheated sun porch all winter, so I'm hoping that, with a good washing, any remaining creepy-crawlies will be taken care of. And I'll be buying sanitized soil this year.

I love the idea of growing my own food, but I seem to have a rather well developed black thumb. I need to find some hardy plants that do well in containers. Maybe just an herb garden this year? Except for TC's jalapenos. Or a mix of veggies and flowers? Herbs and flowers? What do you think?

Could you please repeat the question?

2009-03-26T09:35:00.005-04:00

Because I know you've all been dying to know:

Lean = List (ie. a ship that leans is said to list)

4 = 4 (he had no system for numbers)

misterhamburgers = mistakes (mister the opposite of miss, hamburger for steak = miss+steak = mistake)

butler = made (butler the opposite of maid, maid = made)

farewell = by (farewell for bye, bye = by)

Enron = Enron (proper names, like numbers, stayed the same)

motel = in (motel for inn, inn = in)

the 1990's = the 1990's.

So: List 4 mistakes made by Enron in the 1990's.

On a completely different note, I'm super excited because my mum & dad are coming to visit sometime in April! They don't know exactly when yet, or for how long, but I'm not going to complain :) I can't wait to see them.

I was just saying to TC the other day that very recently Toronto has started to feel like a place where I could see us living for a while. We've put down roots, and connected with a wonderful community of people who mean so much to us. If only my family lived closer - it's the one thing that really, really sucks about living here (there are other things that kind of suck, but them I can deal with).

Random Memories

2009-03-24T09:18:00.004-04:00

I don't know what prompted it, but on my way to work this morning I kept thinking about one of my high school teachers. He was a bit of an odd-ball, but then I think most high school teachers have to be if they're going to survive :)

What made him odd, other than the bizarre stories he told (my favourite involved cheap luggage and a run-in with the Russian mafia), was the fact that he created his own language, and expected his students to learn it. All of his notes and assignments were written in his language, so you learned it or you flunked. And you know what? I still remember it, or rather it's basic principles. I don't remember anything else I learned in his class, but the language I do. Here's an example of a typical assignment question:

Lean 4 misterhamburgers butler farewell Enron motel the 1990's.

Any guesses as to what that says in regular English?

Weekend in Review

2009-03-16T14:50:00.004-04:00

Things I Liked:

Not waking up to the sound of the alarm clock.
Sleeping in until 11:00 am :)
Being taken out for brunch by my honey.
Walking in the spring sunshine holding TC's hand.
Getting 5 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded and put away.
Opening all the windows and getting rid of the winter stuffiness.
Planning the meals for this week and getting all the grocery shopping done.
Playing with babies in the nursery on Sunday morning.

Things I Didn't Like:

A hair dresser who doesn't understand "chin length with layers".
Trying to compensate for a bad hair cut.
People who say they'll meet you and then don't show.
Discovering halfway through a recipe that I'm missing a key ingredient.
Watered-down fountain beverages.

Enough with the winter already!

2009-03-12T11:10:00.003-04:00

We are now entering the time of year when it seems like spring is taking its merry time getting here. I don't know about you, but I always get a little impatient right about now and start feeling the urge to shake things up, try something new, do something to make it feel like spring is already here.

Any guesses as to what I did today? :)

And the Winner Is...

2009-03-10T10:58:00.002-04:00

...someone other than TC. We found out last night that he didn't win the election, and although he's a little disappointed, we're definitely okay with not having to move into Massey. As much as we were excited about the potential adventure, the more we looked into it, the more of a logistical nightmare it became. Certainly do-able, but it would have taken some serious effort to make it all happen.

So we're going to stay right where we are, and focus our energy on different adventures :)

Homemade Goodness - for you!

2009-03-09T09:04:00.003-04:00

I first read about this over on Sherrie's blog, and have since seen it in a couple of other places and I want in! I'm always looking for an excuse to start a new project :)

So here are the rules - The first 5 people who respond to this post will get something hand made by me: it will be my choice, but will, hopefully, be something you can use or enjoy for its aesthetic merits. I won't guarantee that you will love it ~ but I sure hope you do! I also promise to mail my handmade gift to you before the end of the year (December 31, 2009) or sooner.

To participate, you must "Pay It Forward" by posting your own hand made giveaway on your blog. Then put together something to be sent out as 5 surprises of your own. These surprises can be anything ~ a piece of art, a photo, a poem ~ whatever you choose.

Now I'll just wait for the comments to come rolling in! If you're one of the first five to comment, please e-mail me your mailing address (bloomingpatterns [at] gmail [dot] com), and my gift to you will go in the mail sometime in the next 9 months!

Airing my dirty laundry?

2009-03-06T08:56:00.009-05:00

Right now my house is a complete disaster - partly because we've both been sick off and on through the entire month of February, and partly because when we have been well, we've been frickin' busy! Looking around at the place this morning, the state of chaos struck me as so funny that I just burst out laughing. My mother and grandmother would be horrified! No one would be allowed anywhere near the house until everything was spic and span. So what do I do? Take pictures so I can show you folks the pig sty I call home at the moment, of course :) Where shall we begin in my little tour of shame...

How about the kitchen, where as you can see, the mess from a couple of meals is still sitting out on the various countertops - though in our defense, the milk is empty and all the leftovers have been put in the fridge. We're not quite that bad! Let's move on to...

...the dining room, which is currently the cleanest room in the apartment. The mess has been confined to the table, which we haven't been able to eat off of in quite some time. And the chairs are serving as impromptu drying racks for clothes that have been dry for a while but not put away yet, much like...

...most of the clothes you see here in the living room. There's also another load of clean clothes in the dryer in the basement which has been there since Tuesday - I really should go get them, but I haven't been home long enough to do so. Actually, only the clothes in the hamper underneath the yarn and jeans, and the sheets/sweater on the rocking chair are clean - the rest need to be washed. We've had to change and get ready in the living room for the past couple of days because...

...our shoes (as well as various and sundry odds & ends) exploded in the bedroom. Actually TC's temporary fix of the box spring fell apart in the middle of the night, so everything had to be pulled out from under the bed so we could put it on the floor again. I nearly killed myself when I got up to get a drink of water last night.

As you can see, life has been, and continues to be, a little chaotic right now, but you know what? I'm okay with that. This time last year I would have been stressing out about all the stuff going on, the state of my apartment and how much I have to do, but this year I'm just not worried about it. I think it's because I've finally come to realize that it's such a waste of time to worry about anything.

When it comes right down to it, I worry because I'm not in control, because I don't feel like I have a handle on things. But what I've come to realize is that that's okay. Ordering the universe is not my job, that's handled by someone who's much better at it than I am. My job is to become the best me that I possibly can, and insofar as I am able, to try and help others do the same. If accomplishing that means letting the housework slide for a little while, who cares? It's just not that high a priority.

That being said, though, if you're looking for me tonight, I'll be at home, cleaning up :)

The Waiting Game

2009-03-04T10:44:00.003-05:00

Today's the day - TC and the other candidates give their speeches tonight, and then the polls are open! They stay open until Saturday night, and the votes are counted on Sunday, so we should know by Sunday night what our fate will be...

Be sure to tune in on Monday morning :)

Hints of Spring

2009-03-03T09:19:00.003-05:00

I love this time of year! True, it's still -20 outside, and there isn't much greenery as of yet, but spring has begun and there's no stopping it now. How do I know that? When I woke up this morning, for the very first time this year I didn't have to turn on the lamp to see, because the sun had already risen. And then in the subway on the way to work, I was blinded by the sunshine at several points as the track went above ground. I know that will annoy the heck out of me later in the summer, but for now I rejoice in the fact that it means spring is on the way.

What about you folks? What is the first thing that "spring" to you?

Fuming

2009-03-01T16:41:00.006-05:00

I am royally pissed off. I mean really angry - so angry I want to weep. Why, oh why, oh WHY must people wear perfume?!? TC got us tickets to a concert today, a piano duet by two of the best duetists in the world, held at the Royal Conservatory. I was excited about it, and really looked forward to an enjoyable afternoon. Things were going well - we arrived a little early, found good seats, and settled in. Then just before the concert was set to start, a woman covered in furs and fumes arrived. Her scent assaulted my nose before she even entered the row behind us for one of the few remaining seats, which happened to be right behind me.

I immediately went on the alert. Her perfume was so strong that it was actually hurting me to breathe, but I hoped beyond hope that I'd be able to make it through the performance before the full-blown allergy attack that I knew would be coming actually hit. I fanned. I breathed as shallowly as possible. I tried to discretely cover my nose when I needed to take a deeper breath. I was so focused on trying to breathe that I honestly couldn't tell you much about what the music was like.

Then I felt my right eye start to water, and I knew there was nothing I could do. At the beginning of the second piece, I started feeling the need to cough, which is how I react to perfume. Have you ever tried to keep yourself from coughing? For 30-40 minutes? It isn't pretty. Your nose runs. Your eyes stream. And depending on how desperate you are to control your cough (and I was desperate), you end up doing the coughing equivalent of a dry heave. Not that any of this actually prevented me from coughing. All it did was allow me to try and time my coughs with a louder part of the piece rather than during the silences between movements.

By the time intermission came, I felt so badly for the people sitting around me - I know how disruptive it can be to have someone coughing in your ear while you're trying to enjoy music - that I left and came home. There was no way I was going to be able to stay. Even if we sat somewhere else, the damage had already been done, and my allergies were in full swing. Before I left, though, I really wanted to find the woman and tell her what she'd done - ruining the entire concert for me, and at least partly for the people who were forced to sit and listen to me have a coughing fit. It was probably a good thing I didn't see her.

It just makes me so mad! I've heard every excuse under the sun for wearing perfume, but ultimately there is no good reason for it. If you wear perfume it's because you like to. You don't need it. It doesn't make you a better, more likeable person. It says nothing about you - nothing good, anyway. All it does is make a significant part of the population miserable whenever they go out in public because they can't breathe!!!!

So lay off the perfume!

Sarah needs...

2009-02-27T16:04:00.002-05:00

So I had a little down time at work this afternoon, and decided to fill that time by following the examples of a few blogs that I had read. I then proceded to laugh myself silly. Here's how it works - just search for the phrase "[your name] needs" in google and write down the first 10 that pop up. Apparently I need...

...a cold shower, self-esteem. I'm not sure how those are related.
...more love lyrics. It's true! More love lyrics never hurt anyone.
...sponsors to compete. I suppose if I were competing that would be true.
...a miracle. Don't we all?
...a band. That would certainly help with #2!
...to swim. You know, I haven't been swimming in more than 2 years. Maybe it's a sign.
...her own set. I'm going to let you all decide what I need my own set of.
...a Wii. Woo hoo!
...to get her life back and establish herself as the person in charge. That's intense.
...to hand him one of those weapons that went off without warning. Is that how I get my life back and establish myself as the person in charge? Seems a little violent...

Well, there you have it folks. I now know exactly what I need. Funny it didn't mention anything about sleep, or groceries, or toothpaste - I'm pretty sure I need those too. Oh well, I suppose I shouldn't be greedy :)

On the horizon...maybe

2009-02-26T13:30:00.002-05:00

Is the suspense killing you? Are you anxiously waiting to find out what our potential new adventure is? I hope not - that would be a little wierd. I mean, you all have lives of your own, right? (Sorry, the antibiotics seem to be making me a little loopy. Yeah, that's got to be it...)

Anyhoo, do you remember waaay back in the beginning of this blog when I told you all about the high table at Massey College that TC and I attended? Well, it may turn out that we'll be attending quite a few of them next year. Because we might be living there. TC has decided to run for the position of Don of Hall, which if he's elected necessitates that he live in said Hall. Which necessitates that I live in said Hall. I never thought that I could still be living in residence at 30, but what fun would life be without any surprises? :)

We'll know if he's been elected in a couple of weeks, so until then I'll be here, trying to keep it all in perspective.

Let's kick her while she's down

2009-02-24T14:30:00.003-05:00

It seems that I just can't catch a break this winter. I'm mostly over the flu that hit this weekend, but it turns out that the sore throat that I thought was just a manifestation of this particular bug is actually strep throat. What am I doing wrong? I went to see my doctor this afternoon, and am now taking the prescribed antibiotics, but man oh man!

On a different note, stay tuned for updates later this week about a new adventure that might be in the works...

And before you even ask, I'm not pregnant. ;o)

Here we go again...

2009-02-23T10:24:00.002-05:00

It seems that the flu viruses making their rounds this year have decided that I am an optimal host. Things may be pretty quiet over here for the next little while until I can fight this one off. Here's hoping it won't take that long!

HIvje' vo' Quch

2009-02-20T18:52:00.005-05:00

Whew! The week is finally over, and the work situation is now somewhat under control - at least enough so that I can relax and enjoy the weekend :) Why is it that crazy days always seem to wait until I'm overtired to hit? Come to think of it, there's probably a correlation there. Anyhoo, it's my own fault that I'm so tired. A friend of mine hosts a games night every Thursday, and it's always a ton of fun, so I'm usually pretty wired by the time I get home which is late enough to begin with.

They're a fun crowd, and quite unique. Last night the conversation (between myself and 3 guys) ranged from an upcoming "Klingon-meets-Batman" costume party, to an art installation/performance recently enacted in Manchester, to the supreme mediocre-ness of the Leafs, to a rather well-informed discussion of different sorts of tea. I love it! One of them showed us this video, and since it tickled my fancy I thought I'd share it with you. Have a great weekend folks!

Food Week - Dessert

2009-02-20T07:41:00.003-05:00

Sorry I missed yesterday's Food Week theme - it was supposed to be a vegetarian dish, and I would have posted one but things at work just exploded (figuratively speaking), so I didn't have time. And I don't really have much time today, but being the absolute dessert-lover that I am, I have to share this one with you all :) It's my new favourite, because it makes me think of spring and sunshine and picnics and meadows - and it can be made all year round!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Filling:
4 cups rhubarb pieces (fresh or frozen)
2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen)
2 Tbsp. cornstarch (if using frozen fruit, add an extra tablespoon or so)
1/2 cup sugar (this leaves it pretty tart, so you can add more)

Topping:
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp. orange zest
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup cold butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix the rhubarb and strawberries in a 7-1/2" x 11" baking dish (or whatever approx. size you have on hand). Add cornstarch and sugar; mix well.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, orange zest and nutmeg. Using a pastry knife, cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it's crumbly.

Sprinkle the topping over the fruit mixture. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the top is golden brown. If you're using frozen fruit, it can take up to an hour - you just have to keep an eye on it.

Serve with ice cream - bon appetit!

[You can find links to all the other participants' recipes here.]

Food Week - Supper (or is it Dinner?)

2009-02-18T14:35:00.004-05:00

I have to say, I'm loving Food Week so far! People are posting such yummy recipes. Thanks for hosting this, Sherrie :)

Today's recipe is supposed to be for supper, so I thought I'd post the recipe for the pasta dish that I made last night. It's relatively new to me, but it's already becoming one of our favourites. Oddly enough, the recipe was created by Colin Mochrie, who apparently likes to cook. It's super easy (less than half an hour from start to finish), and impressive-looking enough to serve as a company dinner :) Anyhoo, here's my version of it:

Chicken & Leek Linguini (or whatever pasta you have on hand - I used fusilli this time)

4 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
3 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced (you can use more or less, depending on how much you like garlic)
1 big can of diced tomatoes, with juices
1-2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
1 pound linguini, freshly cooked
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Fresh basil, chopped

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet and saute until just cooked through, about 3minutes per side. Cool slightly. Thinly slice chicken crosswise and set aside.

Melt the butter and remaining olive oil in same skillet over medium-low heat. Add leeks and garlic and saute until leeks are very tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, chicken and Italian seasoning. Cook until mixture is just heated through, about 2 minutes. Just before you're ready to serve, stir in the Parmesan cheese.

Serve chicken mixture over the cooked pasta, and sprinkle with basil.

Food Week - Lunch

2009-02-17T09:35:00.004-05:00

Today's theme for food week is lunch, and my apologies to anyone who reads this blog regularly - this post is going to be a repeat for you. One of my favourite things to eat at lunch is soup. It packs well, and keeps me full until supper, so I've chosen my all-time favourite soup recipe to share with you (I know the picture doesn't show it, but there are actually veggies in this soup. They're just all at the bottom for some reason.):

Curry Chicken Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. cumin
5 cups chicken broth
1 tomato, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
1 lb pre-cooked chicken, shredded

Saute the apple, onion, carrot & garlic in oil for 5-6 minutes. Mix flour, curry & cumin in a small bowl and add to vegetable mix. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Stir in the broth, tomato & potato, bringing it to a boil. Lower the heat and cook at a gentle simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add the chicken and heat 5 minutes or so. Season with salt & pepper.

[You can see the list of other participants in Food Week here. So far the recipes have all looked scrumptious, so check them out people!]

Food Week - Breakfast

2009-02-16T19:43:00.004-05:00

It's day one of Food Week, which Sherrie G is hosting and I'm super-excited about participating in. Every day this week I'll be posting one of my favourite recipes that matches the category chosen by Sherrie, as will the other participants - so tune in for some yumminess this week!

Today's category is breakfast, and my absolute favourite thing to make for breakfast is my grandmother's biscuits. It's a super simple recipe, and takes less than half an hour to whip up. Here it is:

Grammy B's Biscuits

3 cups flour (I often do a mix of 1 cup whole wheat, 2 cups white flour)
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cream of tartar (scant)
1 tsp. baking soda (scant)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1-1/2 cups milk (scant)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening with a pastry knife until crumbly. Gradually add the milk, trying not to overmix the dough, until everything has pulled together (you probably won't need the full amount of milk). Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat down to an approx. 1" width. Cut out in whatever shape/size you desire (I use a small juice glass). Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-13T08:50:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day - a day fraught with love, bitterness, frustration and/or joy, depending on who you're talking to. I know people who love Valentine's Day, still handing out those little paper valentines to everyone they care about even though they're now adults. I know people who think the day is a crock, invented by capitalist card companies to generate sales during a slow time of year. I know people who dread the day, as they struggle with being single on a day dedicated to celebrating romantic love. I know people who think it's ridiculous to be expected to make some token gesture to their significant other, when they make their love known every other day of the year. And I know people to whom it is just an ordinary day.

To be completely honest, I have fallen into every one of those categories at some point in my life, so I understand each point of view. Right now, though, I enjoy celebrating the day. I don't go too crazy, celebrating it only with TC, and we tend not to spend any money in the process of that celebration, choosing instead to keep it fairly simple (though TC usually buys me a flower of some kind because he knows I love them). This year we'll be spending the day at a wedding - how perfect is that?

Part of the reason it's important to me for us to celebrate Valentine's Day in some way is that true romantic love, the kind that lasts a lifetime, is hard work. In our society, which is largely me-oriented, I think we need to make the most of every opportunity to celebrate the other - in this case, that special someone. And while it's true that making a token gesture of love one day of the year is empty if no love is shown on the other 364, if you do love someone what's wrong with making a little extra effort to show it on February 14th?

Now that I've had my 2 cents worth, what about you folks? What do you think about Valentine's Day? Love it? Hate it? Indifferent? Inquiring minds want to know :)

Welcome back, Telly!

2009-02-12T09:43:00.004-05:00

And that concludes our non-television experiment.

Yep, we have admitted defeat - at least for now. TC is sick. We have therefore plugged the cable back in so that he'll have something to watch while he's laying on the couch without having to fork out the moola to rent movies (our cable is included in our rent, so there's no additional charge for having it plugged in).

We may try again once he's feeling better, but for now I'm enjoying my NCIS and Whose Line is it Anyway? :)

Vive la France!

2009-02-09T09:15:00.003-05:00

I'm so excited! Yesterday afternoon I booked the airline tickets for our vacation this year - we're going to France! Woo hoo! Our trip isn't until May, but that means I get to start planning now, and that's half the fun of any trip for me :) What's extra exciting is that back in January our friends J&K moved to Nancy, which is in Alsace-Lorraine, so we're going to be able to visit them while we're there. Yay!

Since we're currently in the planning stage, I want to ask all of you - if you've been to France, what is the one thing that you would recommend we see and/or do? And if you haven't been, what would be on the top of your list of things to see and/or do?

See you later, Telly!

2009-02-08T13:15:00.005-05:00

TC has decided that we are going TV-less this week. It all started on Friday night, as we did some rearranging in our living room in order to make room for a craft night that I was hosting. We needed more space for chairs, and TC discovered that our TV fits perfectly inside our coat closet, which is located in the living room.

Initially, we toyed with the idea of leaving it in there, since there's a plug and everything (a plug in the coat closet is a bit wierd, but that's one of the perks of living in an old house - you never know what you're going to find) but the space is more valuable to us as storage for the 4 big rubbermaid tubs that hold all my crafting/soap-making supplies so the TV came back out to it's original position.

The cable, however, has not been plugged back in which leaves us with 1/2 of a channel (we kind of get CTV). And TC decided that it will stay that way for the rest of the week, so that we won't have the option of just turning the TV on and flipping through channels when we're looking for something to do.

That's not to say that we're shutting it down completely, though. DVD's are still allowed, because watching a DVD tends to be more of a deliberate choice rather than a default position. It hasn't been too bad so far. I've done a bit more reading, and have listened to the radio more than I usually do. The only thing I miss is being able to check the temperature and weather before walking out the door - but I suppose I could always go low-tech and just look out the window...

Crafting Conundrum

2009-02-04T11:22:00.005-05:00

I think that a change may be in order. Perhaps.

What kind of change, do you ask? I will tell you.

I need to do something to bring my crafting under control. It has ballooned a bit beyond what I can handle at the moment.

It is now generally known among my circle of friends and family that I love to knit and/or crochet, and that I'm good at it. It's true - I do and I am. That's not the problem.

Some of those friends and family have begun asking if I'd be able to make them something. Again, I have no problem with this. I really love to do it. My response has always been a positive one - all I ask is that they cover the cost of the yarn necessary for whatever project they've selected.

The problem is that I've now been inundated with enough of these requests that, in addition to the projects that I'm doing for my own purposes (gifts, etc.), I have no time to do anything else. And I'm falling behind on some of the time sensitive projects, like the afghan I'm trying (in vain) to get finished in time for a wedding next weekend. I will probably have to give them a gift I.O.U. - it won't be the first time. But that puts me behind for the next project that's due. And where do I fit in the projects that don't have a specific due date but are important nonetheless?

I realize that this isn't the end of the world. And I really do want to keep making things for the people I care about. However, I do have a full-time job that I need to keep to pay the bills since I don't think I'd be able to make a living on knitting/crocheting without charging way more than most people are willing to pay. And it's usually a labour of love for me anyway, so I wouldn't want to charge more than the cost of the materials.

And I don't want to tell people that I can't make them that hat, scarf, pair of mittens, etc., since I truly can - it just may not be right away.

So what am I going to change to improve the situation, you might be asking?

I have no idea.

Any suggestions?

Family History

2009-02-02T11:09:00.005-05:00

I remember reading somewhere that women are the guardians of family history, mainly because our brains are hardwired to assign value to and remember all connecting stories of the different branches of our family trees. I don't know if that's been empirically proven, but I know that it's generally true as far as my own experience is concerned (the one notable exception being my dad, who is definitely our family historian extraordinaire). In any case, I can say with all certainty that I love hearing stories about the people from whom I am descended. There's something special about it - a sense of connectedness with the past, a rootedness that helps me to better understand both myself and the people I love.

One of my favourite stories is about the lady you see pictured above. That's my great-grandmother (don't you love the top hat?), and her life story has always been an inspiration to me. I'm a little fuzzy on all the details, but she grew up in early-20th century rural New Brunswick. She met and married her first husband, who turned out to be a cad and left her with several children and syphilis. With the help of a kind doctor and his wife, she was able to get herself together, and eventually met and married my great-grandfather - the fastest potato-picker in the county :) Unfortunately he was also quite a drinker, so they were never very well-off. He died of lip cancer when my grandmother was quite young, leaving my great-grandmother on her own with far too many children to support.

I can't remember which happened first, but two events took place that must have just broken the poor woman's heart. I think that first she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease which at that point in history was difficult to treat. It was also highly contagious, so she was forced to give most of her children into the care of others - either in orphanages, or with relatives. Can you imagine what that must have been like? She stayed with and was cared for by her aunt, with only my grandmother staying with them, though she was not allowed in to see her mother. Instead, she would sit under her mother's bedroom window, and listen to her sing hymns and pray. Eventually her condition deteriorated to the point that they moved her to a sanitorium in the city, where she stayed until she died. My grandmother was then adopted by a very loving couple who had been unable to have children of their own, but she was separated from the rest of her siblings.

Why do I find that story inspiring? I guess the main reason is that through all that adversity, my great-grandmother persevered. She had the strength of character necessary to pull herself together and get back up each time life knocked her down, accepting help when it was offered, and making do without when there was none. She provided for her family as best she could, and never gave up believing that God loved her. Her faith was a testimony to my grandmother, who has in turn modelled that same faithfulness to my mother and to me.

That's not such a bad heritage to leave your family, is it?

Sick Day

2009-01-28T20:33:00.005-05:00

It's definitely a winter scene out our front window today, and rather appropriately, I've finally managed to catch this cold/flu bug that's been going around for the past month or so, despite my vigilant hand washing and vitamin taking. It's a doozy too - I'm so tired that all I want to do is lay on the couch, but my sinuses feel like they're going to explode if I sit still for too long, so I'm compelled to be up and about.

Also, I miss the days when I could just stay home and not worry about work, but alas that is no longer the case, so I brought my computer with me when I came home early yesterday and worked from here today. Do you like my home office?

It's a lot easier being sick at home, though, even if I have to work. I made myself a yummy lunch - curry chicken soup, chocolate chip cookies, tortilla crisps with hummus, mmm... And of course my constant companion at the moment - tissue. Isn't the little flower cute? TC bought it for me last week when I was having a rotten day. He's so sweet! Anyhoo, the soup I made is absolutely wonderful for anyone with a cold. It's chock full of flavour, vitamin C and all kinds of chicken soupy goodness. Here's the recipe:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Granny Smith apple: peeled, cored and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. cumin
5 cups chicken broth
1 tomato, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
1 lb pre-cooked chicken, shredded

I've also managed to fit in some time at the piano, working on a new song that I'm finding rather challenging but fun. I'm sure TC and the neighbours are sick of hearing it by now - I need to get ahold of some headphones :)

Ugh, I've been sitting still for too long - my head feels like it's going to pop. Cheers.

Sunday at Casa Loma

2009-01-28T19:34:00.008-05:00

Our friends L & M from Kingston came to visit this past weekend. It's the first time we've seen them since their wedding back in August, so it was great to have them here. Not only are the good friends, but they force us to become tourists in our own city. Last time they visited, we went to the Toronto Zoo and had a blast. This time they wanted to visit Casa Loma, a castle built here in TO back in the day by a rich guy who lost everything in the Great Depression. It's now a tourist attraction, and kind of neat.

This is the library, located just off of the great hall. You can't tell from this picture, but most of the books are actually fake. When the castle was privately owned, though, it was filled with the family's books.

I took this picture of the lady of the castle's sitting room because I think I could spend a significant amount of time here. Look at all that gorgeous light! There are comfy chairs to curl up in with a book or a craft project, a piano to play when the mood struck - and servants to clean it up when need be. Me likey :)

After touring all the main floors (there were three of them), we climbed an endless number of spiral stairs up into the highest tower to see the view from the little windows (that's M, taking a pic of the view). Every available surface of the tower was covered in the signatures of others who had made the climb, people from all over the world which was neat.

From the top of the castle we went all the way down to the bottom, through the secret tunnel that connects the main castle with some of the outbuildings. First stop...

...the potting shed. Apparently the grounds of the estate are spectacular, and after seeing this place I completely believe it! We'll have to go back in the summer to see the gardens. The next stop (and the final one)...

...the stables. The original family that owned the castle had quite the horse collection from the looks of things. What struck me was that it hasn't been inhabited in more than 50 years, but it still smelled like horse pee. Mmm. And, tucked away behind a locked door and down a shadowy hall, we beheld a rather creepy sight...

I bet you didn't know that Santa and his helpers hung out in the basement of the stables of Casa Loma during their off season, did you?

Creepy Santa workshop notwithstanding, I think my impression of our visit to Casa Loma was summed up rather nicely by another visitor:

Warning: This post may gross you out a little...

2009-01-26T14:47:00.004-05:00

As I posted earlier this month, one of my resolutions for this year is to reduce the amount of water that my household uses each day. So far, most of what I've done has been in the way of observing our water usage habits - and it's not always pretty, people! My eyes have definitely been opened since I started taking note every time a tap is turned on or the toilet flushed.

We waste a lot of water! Turning the tap on full blast and letting it run for the duration as we brush our teeth - gak! Turning on the shower as soon as I enter the bathroom in the morning - oy vey! Flushing after every little dribble - egad! That's litres of perfectly good water down the drain.

All is not lost, though. We've started implementing some changes to this water-logged lifestyle. I'm working on remembering to turn off the tap between toothbrush rinsings, and not turning it on full blast at all. I'm also annoying TC by constantly pointing out his water wastage in this area :) The shower now waits until I'm ready to start, though I still have to let it run a little to warm up - I draw the line at cold showers! And our new flushing motto is "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." Unless we have company, of course, in which case we flush away. So there is progress!

Can I vent just a little bit, though? I'm also trying to be water-conscious wherever I go, and since starting this project I've developed a new pet peeve - people in public washrooms who feel the need to flush 15 times while using the toilet so that other people won't hear them do their thing. To those people, I just want to say...

YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYBODY!!

It's not like we're sitting or standing outside the stall wondering if maybe you're composing a sonnet or plotting to overthrow the government. Everyone else in that bathroom knows that you went in there to relieve yourself - and nobody cares. We all do it, and it basically sounds the same. So smarten up, get over yourself and quit wasting water because of your vanity!

Okay, I'm done now.

Comfort Week - Image

2009-01-23T08:37:00.007-05:00

Well, today is the last day of Comfort Week, and it's definitely the most challenging topic so far! Sherrie has asked us to focus on image by showing or linking to a picture that represents our idea of total comfort. After careful deliberation, I chose the one you see above. It was taken while we were in Yarmouth this past summer, and in it you see TC, walking with our good friends Blogless Annie and her husband Matt down a sidewalk-less road on a very foggy day (I'm walking behind them to take the picture). Why does this represent total comfort to me?

I guess the main reason is the sense of relaxed freedom - there are no boundaries here, in both a physical sense (road, shoulder, field - it doesn't matter, just walk wherever you want) and a relational sense (Matt and Annie are some of the closest friends we have, and we're able to share just about anything with them). We're not on a schedule, there's no concern about destination - we're in it for the experience, enjoying the journey wherever it may take us (and if you want to see where that was, you can find it here). There is a present-ness about it, at least partly because of the fog, which prevented us from seeing too far ahead or behind and allowed us to be content in the here and now.

To me, that is the essence of comfort.

[Be sure to check out everyone else's images - you can find links to their blogs here.]

Comfort Week - Routine

2009-01-22T10:02:00.004-05:00

Sherrie's challenge for today is to post about a behaviour/habit/routine that brings us comfort. To be completely honest, there are probably a million things that I do for the comfort it brings me, like every time I brew a cup of tea, or sit down to knit or crochet something, or bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies. (Actually, if I could sip a cup of tea and crochet between switching pans of cookies in the oven - I think I'd be in comfort heaven!)

But I've recently discovered a new routine that has fallen into place which is also very comforting, and I didn't realize it until this morning. As those of you who have been tracking along with me on this blog know, TC and I have had a rather difficult time making significant friendships since we moved to Toronto 3 years ago. In fact, it has only been in the last year that things have really progressed in this area, due in a large part to our new church.

The thought started last night as I put on a pair of slippers that I now keep at the home of some friends of ours. It hit me that the reason those slippers are there is that part of our routine is to be at their house at least twice a week, if not more, which is a rather remarkable thing. The couple whose house it is have become quite good friends of ours, and have made us feel so welcome in their home that it almost seems like a second home to us - so much so that TC no longer knocks before he goes in the door (although I'm trying to break him of that particular habit).

I guess it's not so much the behaviour/habit/routine of visiting these friends that I find comforting so much as the fact that it is a behaviour/habit/routine. Does that still count?

[Be sure to check out the posts of other Comfort Week participants, which you can find here.]

Comfort Week - Place

2009-01-21T11:32:00.004-05:00

I had to give a lot of thought to what I would consider to be the one place where I am the most comfortable. Memories of my parents' brown couch that was in the basement family room came to mind, where I'd often fall asleep in the intense heat from the wood stove while listening to the snap and crackle of the burning wood, but that place is no more since they moved into their new house so that won't do. Where, then, am I currently most comfortable?

Well, it's still a warm place - a place where I know I am loved, and where I could spend an unlimited amount of time if I was able. It's a place where I feel safe, and where I am most free to be myself. Where is that place? I know it may sound a bit cheesy, but the one place where I am most comfortable is in my husband's arms.

[Edit: I just noticed that today is National Hug Day in the US - how appropriate!]

[Edit Again: I forgot to mention that if you want to check out the other participants in comfort week, you can find them here.]

Comfort Week - Home

2009-01-20T10:32:00.004-05:00

The most comforting thing about my home is the light. We have a sun porch on the east side of our apartment, which lets in all the glorious morning light, and the great big bay windows in the bedrooms on the west side of the house do the same for the afternoon light. There is nothing more comforting than sitting or lying in a pool of sunlight, soaking in the warmth and sunshine-y goodness.

Comfort Foods

2009-01-19T19:52:00.004-05:00

It's Comfort Week over at Sherrie's blog, and today's post is supposed to be about our favourite comfort foods. That turned out to be a perfect topic, since it's a cold, snowy January day, and after the long commute home comfort food was exactly what I needed. Something nice, simple, uncomplicated and easy. What did I make?

A great big, steaming bowl of creamy tomato soup, which I love to fill with crunched up crackers. And for dessert...

...a nice, hot cup of tea and some Toffifee. The comfort factor of tea should go without saying, but the Toffifee is a special treat. For as long as I can remember, my brother and I have always received a package of Toffifee from my grandparents for Christmas. It's become a tradition now, so I'm always reminded of my grammy and grampy whenever I eat a Toffifee. Plus, they have chocolate in them :)

I can't wait to have a house...

2009-01-12T16:04:00.004-05:00

So you've probably noticed the lack of pictures around here lately. Part of the reason for it is that we no longer have internet access at home, so I would have to take our camera in to work and download the pictures onto my computer there if I wanted to post them online. The other part of the reason is that I'm too lazy to do so :)

Why, you may be asking, are we now internet-less? Apparently our landlord decided to nix the free wireless internet connection that's supposed to come with our apartment without telling us that he was going to do so. That's not entirely true - he didn't nix the whole thing, he just put a password on it and didn't tell us what it is. We are somewhat put out, since we were told when we agreed to live in this apartment that internet access was included.

It may all be a simple misunderstanding, as we haven't actually had the chance to talk to our landlord yet, but he's pulled stuff like this before (like not turning the heat on when it was 9 degrees in the apartment back in October because "it will warm up soon"), so I'm thinking it's deliberate. He came to our door the other night, and TC was going to mention it, but he was there to give us a belated Christmas present, so TC didn't want to ruin the warmfuzziness of the moment.

As far as I see it, our landlord has 2 options: 1) Give us the password so we can use the internet connection that we've been using for the past 2 years, or 2) Decrease our rent, since the amount we agreed on is based on the inclusion of free internet. Does that sound fair?

A Rambling Revelation

2009-01-08T13:05:00.004-05:00

I had an interesting revelation the other day. It happened as I was getting ready for bed. As is my custom most nights, I sat on the edge of the bed while I flossed, etc., thinking about the day and whether I had everything ready to go for the next morning. My train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the sound of wood cracking and a rapid decrease in the bed's elevation. Lo and behold, the wooden frame of the box spring had come off of the bed frame at some unknown juncture, and had slowly been bowing until I sat on that spot one too many times and it cracked in half.

That event was not a revelation in and of itself, but my reaction to it caused me to step back and realize how much I have been influenced by the culture I live in. After I had picked myself up, and TC and I had evaluated the damage, my thought process went as follows: First, I decided that we'd have to get a new mattress set. Then I remembered that the mattress itself is undamaged and only 5 years old, so I decided that we really only need a new box spring. We needed to sleep somewhere in the meantime, though, so we set about moving the things that we had been storing under the bed so that we could set the box spring directly on the floor, where the cracked wooden frame wouldn't matter until we got a new one.

Then it hit me. Why was my initial response to throw away the whole thing and get a new set? And why was I so quick to want to throw away this perfectly good box spring when all we had to do to make it work again was sit it on the floor instead of in a raised bed frame?

Our culture teaches us that people who sleep with their mattresses on the floor must be poor, since anyone who could afford one would obviously have a proper bed with a frame, and being poor is a very bad thing. It means that you have somehow failed as a person in the eyes of our highly materialistic society. But really, for anyone who doesn't have trouble sitting down or standing up from a low position, what purpose does a raised bed serve except as a status symbol?

Originally, beds were raised to avoid draughts, dirt and any little guests that might want to snuggle up with you while you slept. In most modern homes, these are no longer issues. For the majority of us, a bed frame has become a 'necessity' simply because that's just how most beds are. It's true, a raised bed provides extra storage, but my thought is, if we have to store it under the bed, do we really need it?

Now, I'm not knocking anyone for using a bed frame - there's nothing wrong with sleeping in a raised bed. That's not the point I'm trying to make. What struck me was that I had obviously been influenced by our culture's materialistic mindset to some extent, despite my efforts not to be, since the idea of keeping the mattresses on the floor didn't even cross my mind until I stopped and thought about it. My default position was the "chuck it and buy a new one" response.

*sigh*

I guess I haven't quite reached perfection after all ;o)

Be It Resolved That...

2009-01-07T10:05:00.004-05:00

As promised, here are my 2009 hopes and dreams, folks!

Resolution #1 - I've been really inspired by our teaching pastor's latest sermon series on recognizing and unplugging from the lies our culture tells us, particularly relating to consumerism. (It's an awesome series called "Don't Drink the Kool-Aid" - you can listen to it here if you're interested.) As a society, we have become almost completely disconnected from the reality of how goods are produced and the true costs of that production. We also have more of those goods than we really need, and are constantly bombarded with the message that we won't be happy until we have even more. So this year, I will be making sure that every gift we give is a useful object that I either made myself or bought from someone who made it themselves, a donation made in the person's name, or the gift of an experience rather than a thing.

Resolution #2 - In my ongoing quest to decrease the demands that my household makes on the environment, for 2009 I will be actively looking for ways to reduce the amount of water that we use. Any tips and/or suggestions are welcome, and I'll try to keep you updated on the progress we make (if any).

Resolution #3 - I want to incorporate more prayer in my day-to-day life. And by "prayer" I mean having conversations with God about my life and His will and our relationship. Does that make sense? Right now, we don't really have those conversations. I kind of just assume He knows what's going on and will let me know if anything needs changing. I do let Him know if something comes up that I think needs His special attention, and I try to live my life in a way that He'll be pleased about, but we never really talk, just the two of us. I really want to try and change that, but I'm not quite sure what it will look like yet. Again, any tips and/or suggestions are welcome :)

And that's it! Hopefully 2009 will turn out as well as 2008 did :)

Highs and Lows...

2009-01-06T16:13:00.005-05:00

We're back! It was a doozy of a trip, involving a cancelled flight, an overnight stay in the Montreal airport, hurricane force winds, 2 days without power, visiting with as many of our family and friends as we could manage, eating way too much food, and just generally having a wonderful time :)

What was the highlight of our trip? The incredible opportunities to watch and interact with nature. There's a spot not too far from TC's parents where a flock of chickadees live who are so tame that they will come and eat out of your hand. All you need to do is stand still with your hand extended (filled with bird feed, of course) and all of a sudden you feel a little grip on your finger and there's the cutest little bird watching you out of the corner of its eye as it gulps down a seed or two before flitting off to the bushes. The wildlife was a little larger but no less amazing at my parents' place, where they're visited by four or five deer every day - sometimes close enough that you could reach your arm through the window and touch them (though they'd never allow you close enough to do it). They're such beautiful creatures.

And the lowlight? Definitely the innumerable amount of comments from the MIL and FIL about their lack of grandchildren. Seriously, I'm hard-pressed to think of a two hour stretch in which some type of comment wasn't made - even if we were in the company of other people. Actually, now that I think about it, especially if we were in the company of other people! "And I told Mildred that if I had a granddaughter *meaningful glance in my direction* I'd have bought her that little dress...", "We'd like to have grandkids while we're still young enough to enjoy them...", "Well if you'd just forget about the pyjamas at night, it might help things along..." - this one was said while at a church pot-luck. I wish I was kidding, but I'm not. The MIL's last words to her son before he left for another year were "Keep making those babies." Nice.

But we're home now, and starting to get back into the swing of things. I've even come up with my goals for 2009, but I'm saving them for another post...

Joyeux Noel!

2008-12-24T10:37:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We're currently at home, visiting family and friends, with very limited access to the internet, so I probably won't be on here again until January, but I wanted to wish you all the very merriest of Christmases and the happiest of new years!

All I Want For Christmas...

2008-12-17T14:09:00.002-05:00

...is an office linebacker. Please, Santa, please?

This post is dedicated to anyone who has ever worked in an office environment.

Maybe there's hope after all...

2008-12-16T11:54:00.003-05:00

Sign of Hope #1

Conversation between 2 teenage girls overheard on the streetcar on my way home yesterday:

Girl A - Yeah, we had our concert already. I told them not to come because I was working backstage so they wouldn't actually see me. Plus, the grade 8 girls really butchered the ending.

Girl B - How?

Girl A - They were doing a routine to [insert name of Christmas song here] and wore, like, fishnet stockings and really short skirts.

Girl B - Eww. Why would they do that?!

Girl A - I don't know, it's so skanky. It's like Whatzername at Halloween - did you see what she wore?

Girl B - Yeah, like the cat outfit with the tights and tube top? So gross!

Girl A - I know. That was way too much skin. She needs to, like, respect herself.

Sign of Hope #2

A little girl playing with 2 dolls that I overheard yesterday in the doctor's office as I was sitting waiting to get my allergy shot:

Girl doll - I'm so sad. I don't have a date.

Boy doll - Well we could go on a date.

Girl doll - No, my mom won't let me go out on a date.

Boy doll - Let's go on a date.

[this goes on for a while]

Girl doll - Okay, my mom says we can go on a date - but no kissing!

Boy doll - Okay.

Crafty Goodness...

2008-12-13T20:29:00.005-05:00

I realized the other day that it's been a while since I've updated you on all the crafty doings round these here parts. I'd like to say it was an oversight, but I've simply been too lazy to take the pictures, download them to my computer and then upload them here. After a wonderfully relaxing and fun-filled weekend spent crafting and spending time with TC, I finally got around to it. Ready? Off we go...

This is part of an afghan that I'm currently working on. It's done with a lot of top-stitching, which means a lot of ends to darn in, which is why it seems to be taking a long time to get it done. I love how it looks, though, so I'll keep plugging away at it. I always like to have one or two big projects on the go that I can work on while I'm between smaller projects.

One such project was this tam that I was originally hoping would fit me, but alas! I used a lighter weight yarn than the pattern called for, and the result was a hat for a toddler. It's still pretty cute, though.

Isn't this yarn just gorgeous? I fell in love with it in the store, and brought it home to knit into a scarf for myself since my current scarf, which I've worn for almost 10 years, has started to discolour around the neck. All I need to do now is block it to keep the sides from curling in - I can't wait! It's so soft and warm and cozy. I'm also working on a hat to match made from a yarn the colour of the dark blue-green in the scarf. Here's hoping it fits this time!

And last but not least, I made these Christmas potholders for my mom as part of her present. I know she doesn't read my blog on her own (the internet is still pretty much a mystery to her), so I'm not too worried about posting them here, but just in case - Dad, if you're reading this, don't show it to Mum until after Christmas :)

I'm also still knitting away at the Jaywalker socks that I started back in the summer. I put them on hiatus for a while, since I was starting to see them in my sleep! I'll probably break them back out once I've finished my hat.

And that's basically it on the crafting front!

Resolution Recap - part 4

2008-12-12T10:42:00.003-05:00

Resolution #4: Fellowship - I have finally come to the realization that friendships do not just happen here in TO ... So, I shall be going out of my way to get to know people this year. I'm not talking about strangers, but the people that I already 'know' but don't really 'know', you know? Stepping up my efforts to crack through the Toronto-shell that everyone has developed.

This is the last of the resolution recaps, and the one that I am most thankful we've been able to achieve. I knew we'd made a lot of progress when we came back from our trip home in July, and it felt like we were coming home. For me, that only happens when I feel like I'm part of a community - that I've missed people, and they've missed me. TC and I have gotten to know the people in our home church a lot better over the past year. That has meant being very deliberate in our efforts to reach that stage, but the result is very much worth the effort.

The only thing is, we can't let up. It's so easy to be busy here, and if we're not careful we end up too busy to spend time with the people we care about. So we have to continue being proactive about booking time with people in advance, and making those times a priority. That makes it sound a bit like a chore, doesn't it? I don't mean it that way at all. It's just a different style of life, and we're settling into it rather nicely, thank you very much :)

Resolution Recap - part 3

2008-12-08T11:00:00.007-05:00

Resolution #3: Fun - I want to cross one of the things off of my 'to-do-before-I-die' list this year, whether it's going on a ride in a hot-air balloon, having a glass of wine at an outdoor cafe in Paris, or one of the many other things on the list.

Check. One of the things that I had on my list was to have a spa day, and back in March, thanks to my wonderful hubby, I did. It was a lot of fun, but I won't go into great detail because I already did that here.

I also had a great deal of fun visiting with our friends JP & KP this weekend. They came to Toronto for a conference at which JP was presenting and stayed with us. We managed somehow to get a lot accomplished and yet still have a blast :) On Saturday, while JP was at his conference and TC was at school, KP and I got groceries, made brownies, baked bread, roasted a chicken, and made a batch of grapefruit-scented soap with calendula petals (so pretty) all before the boys came home. Very domestic, non? Then we played some games and watched a couple of episodes from the BBC's Planet Earth series, an early Christmas present for TC. Oh. My. Goodness. What an amazing series. If you ever have the opportunity, it's definitely worth checking out.

Also worth checking out - the sermon that our teaching pastor gave this Sunday. I don't normally make unsolicited recommendations in this area, but if you're anything like me, every Christmas season you experience a lot of guilt and/or confusion about the best way to celebrate the season. Our church is dedicating the next few weeks to a series called Don't Drink the Kool-Aid: Exposing the Lies Our Culture Tells Us, and yesterday's lesson was entitled "Lie #1: Christmas is for Giving." I found it really helpful, since the point wasn't to condemn people for how they celebrate Christmas, but to make us aware of the different aspects at work in the process and the choices that we have. You can listen to it online here or download the podcast here.