Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Not a Creature was stirring...

Well, Christmas is upon is. And my family (siblings and parents) are all away, at Betina's house. Well, except for Eve and Sean. So at least I am not alone in my lonely-ness. I thought I would be okay with having a quiet Christmas, and probably I still will, but when I read Betina's' blog, and think about how much fun it is to be all together, I wish I was there. I don't even want to call there, because that would make me miss it even more. But it was not going to happen - Keith and I both have to work today, so that would have left us 1 day to get there. Not possible, at least for us. So, we will have a quiet holiday here, as planned. And it will be nice and fun and happy. But, very quiet. Next year, I will be where the action is!


And just to comment, I think it is GROSS when people leave their shoes on indoors. How disgusting. That is one thing I just did not get about Americans.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

School Days



Abby is happily settled in school, kindergarten that is. She had her first report card last week, and all is well. But I think a day at school is hard work for a 5 year old. All of that playing and learning... The pictures showed up in the wrong order. But you can tell which is the before pic, of her at the bus stop, waiting excitedly for the morning bus to arrive. (which it did not, I had to drive her...) She is well put together, wearing her Auntie Nunu shirt and sweater, hair nicely pulled pack, pants on properly. the after shot, of her home on the bus (which did show up) amuses me. What a busy day she must have had. Kindergarten can sure take it out of a girl!

I ask her about her days, and she tells me things like "Matthew wore three coats today" and "I lost my gloves because they dropped when I was getting on the bus and I did not want to be late so I did not pick them up". We are on her 4th pair now. She knows how to sing "oh Canada" now, and can read. She brought me for show and tell when the letter of the week was M, and Keith when it was D. Very flattering! Although today at breakfast, she said that she should have brought a mirror instead of me. hmmph.

Monday, November 17, 2008

monday musings



It has been pointed out to me that I do not blog very often. Well, that is true. Sometimes my life just seems so normal and routine, that it does not seem blog worthy. So well, here are some of the things I have been doing and thinking about.
  • I did not realize when I choose to become a mother that for the first (well I don't know how many it will be, still counting) at least 5 years, my children will want to be no further than 2 inches AT THE MOST away from my body at all times. Sometimes it is kind of cute and endearing, but usually it is just annoying and causes a lot of crying when children get stepped on and fall over.
  • Mina talks a lot. She is so unbearably cute. I think 2 years old might just be my favourite age. I love when she says phrases that we use. Like "just don't worry about it" (when she drops a toy) and "maybe later" (when she is in her bad crying about having to have a nap).
  • I am going to finish my nursing degree, starting when Mina is in Kindergarten or grade one. Then in the future I may go to the states somewhere for 2 years and do a masters Certified Nurse Midwife degree. When the kids are older, I think that might be a neat thing to do. Planning on something that does not even exist yet is to stressful for me to handle.
  • Keith's office has been moved into his boss's house. His boss is a raw foodist who hangs crystals in the windows and believes in the energy they give. This should be interesting for him.
  • My babysitters kids have headlice. It gives me memories of when I had lice as a kid and my sisters were so mad at me and hated me, sort if like when I brought the chicken pox home and they were so mad and hated me. Well, I'm sorry I was so infectious! I did not realize how much my feelings were hurt by those experiences. I bet that is why I tried to hide all of my sicknesses after that, like having the flu at school and denying it even though the teacher caught me throwing up in the water fountain, cause I did not want my sisters to hate me again. So, I am trying to be understanding and cool about the whole headlice thing. I have added tea tree oil to the shampoo the kids use, and check daily. They are fine, but it all still makes my head itch!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Alberta Joins the Brave New World!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/10/16/alberta-midwives-costs.html?ref=rss

Holy Moly! I can hardly believe it! Alberta is finally going to cover midwifery care! It makes me want to get pregnant all over again! (oh oh, wait a minute. Keith reads ths blogs once in a while, I better be careful what I say, hee hee). This is such great news, and can only mean that an education in midwifery is getting a wee bit closer! What great news to wake up to. It is going to be a good day!

Monday, September 29, 2008

I admit it.

Alright, lets face it, I am a terrible blogger. I have not posted since august, shame on me. I had the best of intentions to do a fun "first day of school" post for Abby, and in the excitement of it all, did not get around to it. I also wanted to post pics of my finished renovated bathroom, and again, never did. Now I have a kitchen in the process of renovation, and maybe I'll just post them all when it is done. Keith spent the whole weekend taking out the old countertop and sink, and installing a DISHWASHER! (and new sink and countertop.) The dishwasher kind of scares me. It says on it "whisper quiet" but it is so loud that I keep thinking someone is spraying down my kitchen with a high pressure hose! Also I need to buy some more dishes, especially glasses. Usually I just wash them after each meal, but yesterday I ran out of dishes, so for his bedtime snack, Keith had to drink his milk out of the bottom of one of Mina's sippy cups, and I put my reheated chinese food in an icecream bowl. I am getting very excited to host Thanksgiving dinner here! Mom, Dad, Patience and Dan are coming. The other sibs are all invited too, but I know Anders and Celeste cannot make it, and Nunu is not sure yet. I hope I have the cabinet doors installed by then.

Abby is loving school. Her teacher is able to teach her in ways that Abby won't allow me to. With me, it was always "NO! I am not reading! I just remember what those letters mean", but for her teacher, she will sound out words, and write them down, and even admit that she is actually reading. Abby used to draw pictures for me when she was mad at me, with her sad face, tears streaming down her cheeks. Now when she is mad, like last night, her notes have evolved to spelling words, such as "NO LOVE MOM" and "I HAT DAD". I love the way she expresses herself on little notepads and post it notes.

Mina is at the talking age. She talks all day long. She has no control over the volume of her voice and is often yelling when she is really excited. When I get her out of bed in the AM, she says "Hi mum, I awake!" She loves to eat. When we run out of something, she is very sad, and will spend the rest of the week reciting the grocery list. "Shreddies, all gone. Chocolate milk, all gone. Yoghurt, all gone." Needless to say, she LOVES to go grocery shopping, and gets so excited when I put the all gone item in the cart for her to hold. Especially if it is chocolate milk, which I think is her favourite thing the world.

Not much is new with me. I am excited about renovating the kitchen, and I have some canning equipment which I am very excited to try out. I am going to start with applesauce and see how that goes. I am still struggling with my future education choice. LD Nurse of Midwife? I know that LD nurse would be more practical for me, however I am not sure I could follow a hospitals regulations, and deal with doctors who have a medical agenda and different opinions about pregnancy and childbirth than I do. But maybe in the right hospital or birth centre, I could actually make a difference... ahhhhh.....

Anyhow. I need to blog more. Shame on me.

Friday, August 08, 2008

At a Loss!

I am at a loss about what to do. Mina, appears to be ATHLETIC! This is very strange to me, and I wonder how the combination of Keith and myself could ever have produced an athletic child. Keith is the first to admit that he is very much not athletic. He is also non-competitive. Although I think that he may have enjoyed badmington in Jr. High, I don't think he was good at it. I also, am the opposite of athletic. I think my very low blood pressure, and crappy hemoglobin, has something to do with it, because when I physically exert myself, I get very dizzy, and red, and stay that way for hours. At high school track meets, when we are forced to choose 3 events to participate it, I would pointedly choose things that I would only have to do once, because I sucked so much and would rather just go and, well, no need to get into what I would go and do. So I choose the high jump (funny to watch a 4 foot 10 girl attempt!) the 100 m dash (my body does not "dash") and the shot put, which usually landed somewhere around my feet. Hardly even out of the circle. So. We produced Mina, who likes to run around the house shouting "fast", could hold her own in a throwing rocks in water contest with her cousin, and can throw a ball like nobody's business. Way straighter and harder, and with far more accuracy than Abby ever will. (Abby is much more like Keitha and I, when it comes to natural athletic abilities.) I picture a dim future for us, having to get second jobs to have to pay for sporting equipment, and driving all over the province for tournaments. Weird. I never thought I'd be a soccer mom, but I guess kids surprise you.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

This 'n That

Hello all! Just thought I'd say hey. We are so excited to go to SL for the weekend and see everyone! (Well, except for Eve, who is following her dream and writing her big exam!) Mom has a million plans for us all, I don't think she realizes that we are just there for 2 1/2 days, one of those being a church day. I have been thinking about Eve a lot, and have to admit that I am a little jelous that she is following her heart, and doing that thing that she loves and has wanted to do for so long. I am so frusturated that I cannot even study part time to do midwifery, as the program just does not exsist here in Alberta. All of the courses at the other universities are very midwife specific, there is no equavalent here to get me started. Sometimes I wonder if I should just be a labour and delivery nurse, and wonder if I could ever be happy doing that, or would I always pretend to be a midwife and get into trouble with the hospital rules. It is just not the same. Although there is a Dr here who does home births, and brings along a nurse and usually has a midwife as her back up. What do you think? Should I get on it, and be a L&D nurse, since Midwifery is a far far off possibility that may or may not ever happen here? And at least then I would be able to help, and make a small difference in the way women give birth. Or should I hope for the best and keep on dreaming about getting to be a midwife? I just hate not doing anything to reach my goal. I hate not really knowing if it will happen or not. And I do not feel right about uprooting my family and starting everything over for me to go to school in another province. I like to ask myself every once in a while "what have I done today/this week/this month to reach my goal?" And it drives me crazy that the answer is nothing. And, that I cannot do anything about it.

In other news...

Abby is learning to read her watch and tell time! I have no idea what she is going to do in kindergarten... I remember being so frusturated trying to learn to read a watch in grade 2!
Mina is talking up a storm. She also is learning her shapes and letters now, and gets so excited when she sees a letter she recognizes. She nearly has a seizure when we drive past a McDonalds. "M!M!M!M!M! Yellow M! Yellow, yellow! mom mom!" If she weren't buckled down, she would fall out of her chair for sure.
We have renovated our bathroom once again, because Keith got a free toilet at work after chatting up the American Standard rep, and I wanted to replace the cracked tile... It looks way better! My next task will be painting the bedrooms and then switching our room with the girls so that they will have more space to share, and Mina will not have to sleep in the living room anymore.

Later!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Changes...

Well, my old job is officially finished. I worked there for 7 YEARS! That is a really long time for me to be in one place, and it was very hard to leave. My employer whom I got along so well with, his patients (sniff, not mine anymore) who I got to know so well that going to work every day was more like a social engagement, catching up with old friends, instead of actually working. On the bright side, now I work 3 evenings a week, and 2 saturdays a month. I get the privledge of raising my own kids, instead of sending them elsewhere, which always felt a little wrong, and a lot wrong if I thought about it too much. So here I am, on the middle of a Tuesday afternoon, and I feel so strange not having to be at work. It is like those days when you forget to wear your watch, and spend all day wondering what time it is and what you are supposed to do next and being all nervous that you are late and missing something important. I need to establish a new routine, and am not sure how to start. I think by finding some swimming lessons and library groups to join for the girls. I have been able to do so many things I have been needing and wanting to do! I finally threaded and started using my beautiful new serger that has been gathering dust for months, the house is cleaner than it has been in a long time, and it has only been 2 days! Housework somehow does not seem so oppressive when you have more than a 30 minute slot to do it in! I think I may even be able to make some progress on the house reno stuff we have been wanting to do for so long. Change is difficult sometimes, but I think this is going to work out for the best. The only down side, is that I am really going to miss Keith in the evenings. But I think we can handle it, after all those years of night shifts, this is nothing!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

The Latest

Well, last week it was the International Day of Midwives. I missed Edmonton's event, as I was in Disneyland, and I was a bit sad about that. I was looking forward to going to the leg. and seeing all of our area's midwives (yes, all 7 of them!) and especially Noreen, who was there for Mina's birth. Anyhow. The news is that the province is planning to start funding midwifery! For real! Alberta is finally going to catch up with most of the rest of Canada! Also, MRC had a date set for the "bridging program" for training international midwives to practise here. And they had a meeting with UofC and UofA about developing direct midwifery programs. Soooo, I may not even have to move to get my education! I am going to try and post links now. One is from the news brief from MRC, another is to a documentary called "the business of being born". It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It is about 1 1/2 hours long though. I love how at the end, the director, who is pregnant goes into labour. She was planning to have a midwife home birth, but her baby was coming early and was breech, and so the midwife brings her to the hospital for a c section. There are so many people who have such an uninformed opinion about midwifery, and I hope that they will see this film, and recognize that midwives are professionals, and are highly trained in knowing when a delivery needs interventions. And they bring the mom to a hospital when this happens.
http://www.mtroyal.ca/healthcomm/ashs/midwifery.shtml
http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/home.htm
I am really excited about this positive development for Alberta! Imagine, being able to birth where and how you choose, whether you have the $ or not! Midwives will be available to everyone, not just rich people! Now I really have to get serious about figuring out how to fund my education...

Sunday, May 04, 2008

The Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland! We got to spend 3 days there with "Papa" and had a wonderful time! The weather was beautiful, (even though the air quality was not - Keith said that it made him feel like a smoker again.) Our flight was uneventful! That was a true miracle, and it was so nice to fly direct instead of having to transfer airplanes. Our new sit-n-stand stroller was really the best $100 bucks ever spent. It was perfect for the girls, Abby could get out when she wanted, and hop back on when she needed a break. We actually did a really good job at packing just what we needed. I was quite proud of us for that! My new favourite ride is the Tower of Terror, I thought it would be really scary, but actually it was quite fun. Keith was quite impressed by the Haunted Mansion. Abby loved the rollercoaster in Toon Town the most, and she also spent most of a morning getting soaked in the waterpark. She still does not like rides that are dark, as they are too scarry. I do need to find a way to cover her scalp in sunscreen, or just get her to wear a hat, as it got sunburnt through her fine red hair. Feeding the ducks was also a big hit, especially with Mina, whose new words from the past few days include "duck-duck" "Papa" and "abra" (as in abra-cadabra). Very very cute.

Travel tips for next time:
  • Take the time to get to a grocery store. Shopping at 7-11 for groceries is just wrong, and you never quite get what you want.
  • Stay up for the fireworks (note to self). Even though I get so pooped out after a day of Disney, I should have stayed up! Next time I will!
  • Bring some Auntie's along. I would have loved to have a sister to go shopping with. I wanted to go, but did not really want to go alone, and also did not want to bring Keith and the kids. Shopping for deals at Ross is just something you have to do with a sister. Plus Aunties are good for the girls, and cousins would have been even more fun. Next time we should plan for a family event. There is usually a "kids fly free" event in the spring time, I think we should take advantage of it!
  • Bring my own camera. At the last minute I decided not to bring mine, as dad and Keith both had theirs. But I missed my D40 the whole time, and was kicking myself for trying to be so practical about how many cameras one group of people actually needs.
  • Plan for a cheaper parking spot for when we are at the airport! Nuff said.
We had a really fun time. I think Keith may even be hooked on the Dis for family vacations too! I will post some pics later when I get them sorted out.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Because I don't post enough pictures...




Here are some pictures, I realized that I do not put enough up here, and the aunties do not get to see my kids beautiful faces enough.
A) Abby and Keith doing science experiments.
B) Putting together IKEA furniture. Notice that Mina is the only one bothering to read the instructions...
C) Playing "my old friend". This has become a favourite activity before bed. (I thought I had rotated the picture. Sorry) I had forgotten how much fun it is to play my saxophone. Abby and Mina love it so much, although they do chew up my reeds and slobber all over the mouth piece.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Pictures


Here are some pictures of the girls, each wearing the cute hats Auntie Betina made for them. Although Mina prefers to wear panties on her head, I do make her switch them out for a hat when we go out, which makes her very sad. It is officially spring now, and even Easter this weekend, but you would not really know it by looking outside. I am wishing we were at Betina's again for the holiday so that the Easter Bunny could come outside (and to Rosaurs too), instead of just to the living room. Somehow, it just does not seem as fun. But I am sure Abby and Mina will still love it. Maybe we should consider making Easter in Colfax a tradition.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Funny

"Where am I going? And why am I in this handbasket?"

Friday, February 29, 2008

About my Job

This week is teachers convention in Edmonton. Which means that at work, I get to clean childrens teeth all day long.
One question: Are all 9 - 15 yr old boys so sullen and unresponsive? They will not answer any questions, make eye contact, or even be generally pleasant.
Also: A note to people who go to the dentist. If you treat your dental professional badly, if you are whiny and mean or try to bite them, you can bet that you are going to get the 4 minute disgusting fluoride instead of the more pleasant 1 minute tasty one. There will not even be a choice!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

What Have I Been Up To, You Ask?

Well, let me tell you. I have been making and individually wrapping (well, 2 to a pkg) 500 home made chocolate chip cookies. I have been doing it for a long time. Because I love my little sister, and they will make her wedding guests very happy. I have always been good at baking cookies, and sometimes people ask how come mine always turn out so well. Here are some cookie baking tips.
  • Use butter. It just tastes better. It must be at room temperature. You should not try to cheat by heating it up in the microwave, because that melts the middle of it and that will change the end result. Make sure you leave the correct amount of butter on the counter until it softens. Do not cheat.
  • Have a good recipe. Some, like just finding one on the net, will not turn out well. Others are tried and true, like the Toll House chocolate chip recipe, or the ones on the back of the chipits package.
  • Have good equipment. A Kitchenaid mixer is the absolute best, but a hand mixer will do. Ther right cookie sheets are essential. Shiny metal, air insulated with a rim only on one side. This is very important so that the air will circulate around the cookie and bake it properly. A cookie scoop will ensure they are the right size and shape. Do not cram the dough into the scoop, or they will not fall out of the scoop properly. Have an oven thermometer in your oven to make suer the temperature is correct, and pre heat it. Know your hot spot. Mine is at the back left, so a cookie sheet must be off centre to the right to ensure even baking.
  • Follow the recipe. Always cream the butter with the sugars before adding eggs and vanilla. Mix the dry stuff seperately, then mix in with wet. Then do add ins, like chips/nets etc. Don't do it all at once.
  • Use only a minimal amount of spray oil (pam).
  • Make sure the cookies are 2 inches apart. If you try to put too many cookies on a sheet, the air will not flow around them and they will be flat and raw.
  • Do not scoop dough onto a warm or hot cookie sheet. Have at least 2 cookie sheets to rotate, so that you do not have to wait for the one the cool before putting the next batch in.
  • Use a timer. Always check them 1 minute before the timer goes off. They should be very slightly brown around the bottom edge. Take them out of the oven at this point and let sit on the pan for 1 - 2 minutes more. Then remove to cooling rack. Use a clean lifter. If the lifter has melted chocolate chips on it, it will not lift your cookies properly and they will get misshapen.
If you do any of those things wrong, your cookies will not turn out and be beautiful, like the ones that will be at Patience's wedding.

Friday, February 08, 2008

My Incredible Husband

I have a fantastic husband. There is a long long list of praises to sing for him, but let me just share with you this most recent feat. He has not smoked in 4 days! I am so proud of him! YAY Keith! You are awesome. I love you.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Tagged

Well, Betina tagged me, and so I have to write 6 things about myself. I do not have any other bloggers to tag back though, so the tagging will have to stop here.
  • I hate hot weather. Even though today it is the coldest day so far this winter (-46 with the wind), and it is the first time ever that I have called my boss to tell him that I am not coming in to work, I still can honestly say that I hate hot weather. Today I will attempt to shovel out the 3 feet of snow we got overnight, I will plug in the car so that it might start tomorrow morning, and will probably get frostbite. But I will still enjoy it more that I would a hot hot summer day.
  • I have been fired from 2 jobs. One was a Tim Hortons, and they fired me because I had a "bad attitude", and the other was The Keg, because I missed a shift when it was -35 and my car would not start, and they thought I should just take the bus. (I was not about to wait for a bus in that weather, so I got fired.) So even though I know Dr. M would not fire me for today, I was still a bit nervous about calling him this morning.
  • I really like eating out at restaurants. We do not do this very often these days, but I love it. I am excited for when the kids are older and Keith and I can do this more often. One of the careers that I have always wanted to try out is being a food writer for a newspaper or magazine. And if you are going out to eat, you have to order desert. It does not make sense not too! Especially if they have cheesecake, or a chocolate lava cake.
  • Recently I have began to enjoy opera music. I think it is because we got a kids opera CD with english translation, and the songs are really fun! Now every time it comes on the radio, I turn it up.
  • I never properly learned how to be a girl. I cannot for the life of me blow dry my hair, and I haven't the first clue about how to put on makeup. I don't really like spending money on clothes, or even shopping for clothes in general. This only really bothers me when I am with my beautiful sisters who are really good at blowdrying.
  • I never use spell check, normally. But the past few weeks I have been e mailing principals of some schools we might send Abby to, and I used spell check on them. I would be so embarassed if I sent an e mail to a principal with spelling mistakes in it. And besides, they might not let Abby into their school if that happened.
I think that is 6. Now I just have to figure out how to link to my sister's blogs. I'll try that next time I am on here.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

January 8 random samplings

Well, it is a new year already! Christmas was really fun, Keith and I both had lots of time off, and we both got to just relax. It was nice, and actually felt like a holiday when it was over. Here are some fun things that happened/were said. (Mostly by Abby)

  • "Auntie Patience, are you excited to get married so that you can sleep with Dan?"
  • "I am NOT a fish expert, I am a HORSE expert" (stomping away in a huff)
  • Mina seems to be sleeping better! Over the holidays we developed a new night time strategy. We just ignore her. Well, not completely, but we try to have her go back to sleep on her own, without the boob. She seems to be getting the hang of it!
  • Mina is also walking up a storm! 14 months is such a cute age. She will just walk around the house, carrying a stuff, putting random things in the baking cupboard, and chattering away. So cute.
  • We were talking about registering Abby for school. Abby got really excited, started to jump up and down doing the happy dance, saying "Yay! I get to go to Paleontology school!" When we told her it was for kindergarten, and not college, she was very sad. Incidentally, we may have found a suitable school for her, so long as there is space left for kids from other neighborhoods.
I am sure I had more to blog about, but it is nearly 10, and I am falling asleep. zzz.