Meagre Offerings from the Serene Veranda

Does this count?

2012-01-29T14:54:00.000-08:00

I think as far as mormon stuff goes, blogging on a Sunday is A-OK. To me it is like journaling, which is heavily reccomended for a Sunday afternoon activity. And shoveling the snow is A-OK too, as long as you make it a service to others and shovel both of your neighbours walks too. Which was nice to do today because my one neighbour has gotten to it first for the past few snowfalls, taking away my good deed intentions. I think retired people must sit all day looking out of the window, just waiting for that last snow flake to fall so they can get out there with their fancy snow removal tools.

So, my secret it all the way out. I finally got the courage to tell work about the baby-to-be, and there is just no hiding it in Sunday clothes anymore. Keith was laughing a bit about my attempts, ha ha, so I finally just gave in. I got really fat right away this time, which my doctor said probably was because I had to stop 3 of my medications at once, and that apparantly is a recipe for getting fat. Anyhow, I always like the first few months of pregnancy, having this little secret that only a few select people know about. Watching other people try so hard to bite their tongues trying not to ask the seemingly obvious. And the day you finally give in to the elastic waisted pants and feel soooo much better. I also like the day or two when it is just me and only me who knows about it. It is like this incredible sparkly present that you get to give to the one you love the most. Even if it is an unexpected present.

Kid update:

Mina cannot for the life of her say the word "envelope". She says something like "antelope" instead. Also, the other day we had a conversation about being old.
Mina: Mom, are you old?
Me: I'm older than you.
Mina: But are you old?
Me: I'm old enough.
Mina: Is Daddy old?
Me: He's old enough too.
Mina: (getting frusturated with me) But is he old, like an old shoe?
ha ha ha.

I took Abby to a Harry Potter day at the University science department. They had all of these booths set up where you could do science experiments and check out "magical" things. They had the expected acid base things, and dry ice, but she also got to extract her own DNA from a saliva sample! How cool is that? I was so proud of her - she knew all of the answers to questions about obscure animals - like that a male platypus has a poisonous claw on his hind feet! She was shown a skull and identified it as the skull of a Komodo Dragon. This girl is incredible! (She also knew all of the answers to a Harry Potter quiz, but I expected that.)

Thats all for now folks. Oh, and I joined facebook. (I was planning to never ever do so, but that is where my midwife updated her clients if she has to rebook an appointment. )

Musings... A bullet List

2012-01-18T14:57:00.000-08:00

I was going to blog about how much I hate the bleeping cold. But, it has warmed to only -24 degrees, so I feel much better about it. I was not enjoying the -44 of yesterday.
I keep telling myself that it is cheaper and more practical to by new car seats and booster seats than it is to buy a new car. But the Mazda 5 is calling me! Alas, a couple of Britax Marathon's should do the trick. Or perhaps the Radian 65's which are also narrow.
I made the most delicious lasagne over the weekend. It was golden and bubbly and perfect. I even took a picture of it for my archive of fantastic food that I have made. I also have many pictures of various yorkshire puddings and apple pies.
The museum is having a Chair exhibit and I am unreasonably excited. People thing I am a bit strange, but I can't wait!

I should really not have started this list now, because I have to go get Abby. More later! TTFN!!

Mommy Confession # 73

2012-01-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when she is asleep, I sneak into Mina's room and put chapstick on her. I just cannot abide those little chapped dry hurting lips, that keep getting licked in the cold, and never get chapstick-ed because she hates it. Sometimes, I even use vaseline.

Merry Ho Ho!

2011-12-29T20:09:00.000-08:00

Of all the gifts I gave this year, these are the ones I was most excited about. I learned to knit in 2011, thanks to my amazing Mother-in-law, (and you tube, when she was not around to ask for help.) I had a lot of waiting time in doctors offices, etc, so I got a lot of knitting done! The Gryffindor scarf is so awesome - I knit it in a tube, so that both sides are nice, and it will be really warm. Mina's hat was a last minute project, but it turned out perfectly! Thanks for the pattern Betina!

We had a really fun Christmas. Mom, Anders and Celeste came over and it was very festive indeed. I even had a festive tablecloth for the dinner. Fancy! And I did not run out of cutlery! We went skating on Christmas Eve, did a secret Santa for someone, and saw some Christmas lights. There were new PJs for all (thanks Eve!) and even new dresses, since it was a Sunday after all. I quite enjoyed church on Christmas day. ( I always kind of envied the Catholics who get that every year, and for us it is only when the 25th falls on a Sunday. I am also envious of thier stained glass. But I suppose I should not be envious....) Anyway.

Merry Christmas to all! Hope your Christmas has been happy! And a Happy New Year too, in which we shall celebrate with the amazing cream cheese cinnamon buns, drool.

Let There be Light!

2011-12-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

We are officially the brightest house on the block! Keith has revealed his previously unknown competitive streak. Next year I think there may be lawn ornaments and perhaps a mechanical lighted moose. Every time I turn the corner and see our house lighting up the street I can't help but smile and laugh a bit because I love them so much. Merry Christmas!

In other festive news, my band concert was on Sunday and it was fantastic. I love playing with a full orchestra (minus the string section). It was the first time I know of that brass, saxophones, drums etc. were allowed to play in the chapel. The stake had to get special permission from SLC! They even removed 3 pews so that we could make a little orchestra pit. It was just beautiful, I wish you could have been there. I invited my neighbours and and 2 of them came! This was big for me, as I have never invited a non member to a church event. There was a choir as well, and some solos. I have 2 new favourites to add to my list: "Still, Still, Still", and "Guard Him, Joseph". Especially when done by Brother Hatch.

so, have a merry Christmas!

PS the Christmas recipes may be a little bit late, so to those sibs who have not sent any yet, you still can, we will just call them new years recipes this year.

Happy #5

2011-11-13T15:20:00.001-08:00

Here Mina is at Christmas, wait a minute! That's not Mina, it's me! ha ha ha. THis picture came from the Late Aunt Connie's photo album. When dad showed it to me, I could not believe how much Mina looks like I did at that age. It is incredible. I love it!

Here is the real Mina! She had a pyjama themed party, and wore her new birthday hat (a gift from Eli, the aformentioned childhood stealer. He is forgiven.) And the cake, was delicious! Best frosting recipe ever: Put 8 oz whipping cream and 8 ounces baking chocolate, we used semi sweet, in a bowl. Microwave until w. cream is very warm, and chocolate begins to melt. Let sit a few minutes, then mix it together. Pour over cake, smooth it, let sit overnight or a few hours to harden. I put a layer of it inbetween the layers of cake too. wowza.

So, Happy birthday Mina! You are hilarious, beautiful, kind, sweet and loving. You have a great imagination, you love your friends, you adore your sister. You love watching Mr. Bean, and Sponge Bob, you appreciate a good joke. You love to read, take the bus to school, play with Anna, your best friend, stretch your incredibly flexible body, and make cookies with mom. You love candy, and have the dental work to prove it. (you are also, incredibly well behaved in the dental chair, thank goodness.) You love to come and cuddle in my bed before my alarm goes off, asking me questions like "what starts with Q?", before I have fully woken up. Mina, I love you. Happy Birthday!

A Very Harry Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween all, it has been very Potter-ish around here! I did not get a photo of our "HP/Deathly Hallows" Jack-o-lantern, but here are Abby and Mina in costume, (that would be Ginny and Arnold the pygmy-Puff). The picture does not really show the tie, headband and co-ordinating nailpolish, the wand or the robe. But, you get the idea. Mina's fluffy vest is rather simple, but it was a last minute costume switch (she was going to be a skeleton until Abby decided she should be a pygmy-puff. Luckily, Mina was more than happy to agree.) Abby spent much time trying to get Mina to sit on her shoulder. There was also a themed dinner, with mashed potato ghosts, orange/purple jello, and deviled eye-balls. And I hand piped no less than 60 gingerbread skeletons for the class parties. This stay at home mom stuff is getting really fun, now that I am not in agony. Sadly, only 2 weeks left then it will be back to work for me. I always thought I would go insane if I did not get to work, but it turns out that this is not the case. I am actually really enjoying this. Alas. Now I know what I am missing.

Also pictured is Mina's first day of school, and mom baking bread with the girls. They had a great time! Clearly, I will never get a commercial kitchen license, as our baking practises are rather unhygenic. I have no idea why Mina has no clothes on. I was in a post surgical daze, that is my excuse.

Another Gem

2011-10-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Mina: "Mommy, let's play castle. Abby will be the queen and I will be the princess. Daddy will be the King."

Me: "And what will I be?"

Mina: "Mommy, you can be the cook-servant."

thanks.

As as side note, Martha Stewart always has really good hair. Doncha think?

My sweet 4 year old...

2011-10-10T05:15:00.000-07:00

On a Sunday Morning, getting ready for church.
"But Mom, really, please, I have never been naked at church before!" ~~Mina

In other news, she is slowly loosing her innocence. As much as I love seeing my kids grow up, learn things, go to school and make friends, it tears my heart apart to see them being subjected to the world. Mina has a hat, well, one of many, and it is her yellow kitty hat that Granny made, It has cute little ears on it. She Loooooves this kitty hat, and wears it often. She has me stuff the ears to they don't flop over. She wears this hat to church and to bed. One day, she came home from school with the yellow kitty hat in her backpack, and told me she would not wear it anymore. Because Eli was laughing at it, and trying to take it away. Eli! You stealer of childhood! You breaker of a mother's heart! So, since that day, the beloved kitty hat has sat alone in the bin. Very very sad. It is the thing about school that I hate the most. I wish I could forever cocoon my children so that they could always be pure "Äbby"or pure "Mina", without all of the influences of the Eli's of the world. (It kind of makes me think of the plan of Salvation in a way, and how HF must have felt about sending us down here and watching us grow up...) Today the kitty hat, and songs about farting. Tomorrow, well, I hope my girls are strong enough to love what they love, and be true to themselves. I hope the kitty hat will be dusted off and worn proudly again.

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving! gobble gobble.

The Things I Have Lost

2011-10-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well, today I took off the remainder of the steri-strips from my tummy. And, it turns out, not only have I lost 60 + cm of small intestine, I have also lost my belly button. Very unsettleing.

I'm Back!

2011-10-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sort of back. Recovering from a major abdominal surgery is a big deal. I can't even imagine having a C section and having to go through the recovery from surgery, plus the usual post natal problems, plus a new baby. My hat goes off to any woman who has had to do this. And to those people who have "ëlective"surgery, well, you are plain crazy, IMHO. Real life surgery is nothing like hospital experiences on TV. No hottie doctors, the rooms are ugly and old, and there is always a room mate. The only people who get private rooms here are people with super bug infections, or people who are dying. In my case, the room mate was Sophie. An elderly native lady who had her foot chopped off. She was very hard to share with. She kept her TV on all the time. Even at night. That is when I would muster all of my strength to cross the room, turn off her TV and move it out of her reach. She blamed the nurses. ha, take that Sophie. And the food is just as bad as you have heard. But, I did discover something about myself. I have inherited a strange behaviour from my Grandfather. In his fridge, in the butter and cheese keepers in the door, he always had a huge collection of individually portioned condiments. Ketchup, salad dressing, soy sauce, you name it. Well, by the end of my stay, I had nearly filled the top drawer of my bedside table with individually portioned condiments. I just could not bear to toss them, they were still good, and maybe I might pack one in my lunch for work one day. But then, I envisioned my grandpa's fridge, and all that mustard falling out every time you opened the door, and I threw them all away. Just like that. There are many things to be said about a hospital stay, and truth is, I could complain all day about it, but really, I am just thankful to have it over with. I am slowly getting better, even though my feet and legs are still ridiculously swollen, I can eat, I am not throwing up anymore. I hope to start gaining weight, I am going to get a second medical opinion on managing my Crohn's, and also visit a naturopath. And, I am going to start juicing, once I am able to go grocery shopping.

Another thing about going through this experience, wow, people really care. I have had so many people helping in so many ways. I am thankful and blessed to have so many people, friends, family, co-workers, who are looking out for me. Today's task is writing out thank you cards!

Sick Leave

2011-09-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Apologies to all for not blogging. I have been V. ill, and that is my excuse for not blogging, gardening, hanging pictures, cleaning the bathtub, keeping up with social and family communications and responsibilities and so on and so forth. On Wednesday the good doctors will be chop chopping me into pieces, in hopes of fixing my plumbing. Wish me luck, say a prayer, and bring dinner! I will be in hospital for a week, then will be home to recover, if all goes smoothly. Please call Keith first to see if I am up to seeing visitors in the hospital. I am not sure how social I am going to be feeling after being surgeried, will all the hospital things going on.

And then when I am better, boy do I have a long list of things I would like to do! Christmas dinner will take on a whole new meaning this year!

Pictures

2011-07-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

Abby and Papa after her baptism. A very happy day! (Dad's suits apparantly have not been returned from the cleaners).
This was over Easter, I think. We had a fun dinner, and Anders came later to pick up mom. An Anders sighting! That was memorable.
This is how Abby and Mina slept for the first 2 weeks in our new house. They took a while to get used to sleeping alone. Pretty sweet, they really do love eachother.
Here is one of the many diarama's Mina leaves all over the house. They are very precise and orderly, and hard to clean up. But deadly to step on.

home! part 2

2011-06-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

Here is part 2 of my home tour! Probably I should have cleaned up the house first, but, too bad. Here you see the actual real house, messes and all. (and more than a few unpacked boxes.) Just a side note, it takes forever and a day to upload a video! sheesh.

Home! part 1

2011-06-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

argh.

2011-05-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

I know, still no house pictures, if anyone cares. I have not forgot, one day they shall appear, perhaps.

And I have to say I am a little disenchanted with the blog world these days, kind of annoyed with bloggers in general. I don't really want to be a "blogger", like they are. But since I am writing this on my blog, it is obvious how confused about it I am. Because blogging can be a fun thing. Except when it is not, and everybody's perfect everything just gets irritating, and even their stories of imperfection have a silver lining. gag me.

But that is just how I am feeling today, and I am sure that once I get my house inorder, and finish my projects and stop feeling annoyed with everyone and their dog, (or should I say blog, ha ha) I will be a happy blogger again.

photos

2011-05-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.ctv.ca/gallery/html/slave_lake_wildfire_110516/index_.html

Here is a good photo link of the devastation.

sad

2011-05-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

I am sad. Much of my hometown is burning to the ground. But now that I have eaten a box of oreo cookies, I feel ready to share some favourite SL memories.

If I could blog the smell of being in the middle of the boreal forest, where the trees come up to the edge of the highway and go on as far as you can see. That is a good clean smell. The air is fresher there than anywhere I have ever been, (although now it is probably hard to breathe right now with all the acrid smoke.) Breathing felt better there. Also, I can't blog the sound (although if I looked hard enough, the internets might offer up a sound byte) of the poplar trees in the breeze as I am falling asleep. Only to be crowded out by the frogs and crickets in the yard. They also made a sound before it started to rain. Really, they did. And there are so many stars to see. It gets so dark, I swear you can see them all. SO Bright, so many. And it gets dark there. Actual, pitch dark. Like it never gets in the city. I love those things. They are what make me me.

Quadding through the forest with my friend. Once we stopped in a hay field and climbed up some of the bales. Although I had to do this on the sly because Dad forbid ATV fun because he was so familiar with the injuries they can cause. (but at the time as a mad teenager I just thought he was the fun police.) Snowmobiling was also fun, (and also banned,) especially at the old golf course, or towing us up the tobogganing hill - it was a steep long walk otherwise! There would usually be a bonfire at the bottom, and huge innertubes salvaged from industrial equipment to slide down on. Much safer than the red toboggan, right Betina?

Cruising main street. For hours. (sometimes resulting in complaints to your parents because the muffler on the car was not working!) Stopping at Sev for slurpees and meeting up with people there, because that is where you went to find out what was going on. Everyone showed up sooner or later. Then eventually finding your way to the arena to watch the Wolves play hockey. Holdie's mom was the biggest hockey fan in town! Getting to play keyboard for the hockey band a few times was a blast.

The REX theatre! Did it burn down? It would be irreplaceable. Another box of oreos may have to be sacrificed. Would they rebuild it the same way? With the shag on the walls, the sticky floors, the mismatched seats, and old benches from the highschool up in front? With the best orange slushies know to mankind? Where someone always announced what movie was playing "next Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8"? the "upstairs" where many sorts of unapproved behaviour went on? (I never sat there!!). The old cash register the guy in the booth had? Only $5.50 to get a ticket.

Skiing at grizzly ridge. (although that has been gone for a while now.) Kevin's attempt to teach me moguls. Come to think of it, his attempt to teach me how to drive ended up just as badly! Driving adventures in the winter. meeting the ditch many times on the Mitsue road, and getting the neighbour to tow us out.

The beach. So many beach memories. In the winter that time laying in the snow in the dark watching the Northern Lights dance around the lake. Words cannot even describe how that feels. That was my favourite. My next favourite is bringing my own kids there. My mom being the only one brave enough to go all the way under before the water warms up (not until August!). Swimming all the way out to the raft and diving off of it. Riding bikes to the beach. Running there as part of Mr. C's torturous phys ed. class.

Jumping into the river from the bridge. One particular time, hey Michelle? Then having to sit through math class wet and stinky. The time Randy was getting pulled into the weir on the biology class field trip. That place where the road stops where the river joins in to the lake. Parking there and watching all of the big birds. Laying in the sad close to the airport runway and watching the water bombers fill up. (but for somebbody else's fire, far away.)

$1.99 breakfasts at Acropolois. The Beachway cafe and it's jukebox. Driving around in Nick's mini-jeep with the top down. That time, with the frog. Or was it a toad?

The demo derby!

The moose. That time when we were driving up to the cemetary, and there was the biggest moose we had ever seen and we sat there for half an hour before it decided to move. In hunting season driving through a neighbourhood and seeing a deer draining in every garage. (doors open of course, to show off!) The bear traps by the creek. The time the elk were brought in to help with overpopulation in the Jasper townsite and they all (the elk) found their way to 7-11.

Those are a few of my favourite Slave Lake things. Writing one makes me think of another after another. At 17 years old I could not think of anything better than getting far far away from there, but I think that was just the 17 year old who wanted to be on her own, away from parents... Every time I have gone back I start to think, if only I could stay for a while longer. Breathe the clean northern air, hear the poplars, listen to the waves crashing. And see one more movie at the Rex. Just for the sake of being there.

Phew

2011-05-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, the great moving weekend is OVER! Thank goodness. Moving is not a lot of fun, as most of you know. But it is fun to unpack, find new homes for things, make a fresh start. I know that the only thing you want to see is pictures, I'll post some soon. We still have to put together a bed or two, hang window coverings, unpack a few boxes and so on. Then, I'll take some. I did however bake bread and cookies, so it smells like home now! Here are some bullet thoughts about my new house.

Perfect size. More space, yet I still know where my children are.
The kitchen layout is far superior to my old house! It is very much the layout of Betina's kitchen, but a bit smaller. I love having the table separated from the workspace by a counter.
The girls have their own rooms now. For the first 2 nights, Mina slept in Abby's room. Since then Mina has been fine on her own, but Abby has been getting worried at night and crawling in to a camping bed in our room. A little unexpected for sure! But I'm sure things will settle in. Mina's room is actually staying very clean. Because she is hauling all of her collections out and creating her little diorama's all over the house, leaving nothing in the bedroom.
The upstairs toilet is higher than the downstairs toilet. Which causes an unexpected drop when using the one you are not used to yet.
I am not sure I love ceramic stove-top's yet. It takes forever to heat up, and then the surface stays hot a long time afterward.
The vegetable garden I have been dreaming about will not happen this year. The last person had the plot filled with tuberous perennials for about a million years. I need to get some advice about how to deal with this, (help internets!) but I am envisioning a summer filled with digging and roto-tilling to try and make it plantable for next spring. But I do have 4 apple trees, a raspberry patch (I think), and a place where I am going to try strawberries. Plus beds around the house for flowers, and I can always do a few containers. In fact the people left 2 half-barrel planters for me. And I can get a years start on some awesome compost.
I have met 3 neighbours who are all nice, friendly, normal people. Now that I have the oven figured out, cookies and bread will flow to them.

So. Pictures soon. really.

A Story about a Camel and some straws.

2011-03-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems the winter spell has (temporarily, because there is always the Easter snowstorm, and then a bit more on May long) broken. Today we awoke to "drip drip dripping" from the For Sale sign that is posted in the front yard. Yes, we are for sale. Actually, pending. we are currently quibbling over details, but will very likely be sold (and then owners of a new house) by Tuesday! Many thing have been happening here! B and N are having a great laugh about the story. I shall share.
"The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back".

Let's see. Where to begin. We live in a "bad" neighbourhood. There is a lot of crime, a lot of people who are on social assistance, a lot of group homes for people who are being rehabilitated from some deviant behaviour or another. Had we known these details, we probably would never have bought this house. But, in blissful ignorance, we did. (Now we know about a fabulous statistic page available that lists all of these things, by neighbourhood!) So we have been here for 5 + years. Only a few bad things happened directly to us. We had car windows broken a couple of times, dog poo all over the lawn, loud kids keeping us up all night because their parents don't care that it is 2 in the AM... Lots of bad things happened around us though. Like the scary night when the 2 rival aborginal gangs armed with garden hoes and shovels met at the intersection in front, the famous motorcycle club that moved in down the block with their mean pit bulls, Police at the drug house several times a week, many a domestic dispute spilling into the alley behind us. Condoms littering the street, likely leftovers from the rub n tug in the apartment building behind us. The local school closed down, and just last week there was an article in the paper about the drug deals and prostitution that go on the the park now. Still, we stayed. Even when a woman's battered, beaten body was left at my daughters bus stop, we stayed. The woman died later that day. I found a short length of rebar on my front lawn. And we stayed. because it was not happening to us, just around us. And we had a wonderfully tiny mortgage, and we found many other reasons to close our eyes, try to ignore it.

But then, the straw. Yes, something finally happened TO us that changed everything. We had some bags of milk jugs in the back yard. We save them up to bring in for a refund, which goes into the girl's savings accounts. Yes, that's horse camp money! And some one just waltzed right into our backyard and took it! Stole from a 7 year old! Well! Keith was furious and announced that he had had enough! So before he could change his mind, I jumped on that wagon, and we listed our house for sale. That was on a Tuesday. We had an offer an Friday, and found a new house Saturday. Whirlwind! Now, we are pending, waiting in limbo for our fates to change. How dramatic. Hopefully I will have an update soon!

Three Very Good Days

2011-02-05T07:27:00.001-08:00

Here is a tale of 3 very good days. Which one do you think was the best?

Day #1: Christmas Day. A day of matching jammies made with love, wonderful mystery packages brought by the (cute) Fed Ex delivery man, sleeping late, eating junk, with nothing better to do than hanging out with the people you love best. Always a very good day.

Day #2: The day we ate these cinnamon buns. Lets try a link. That was my first time, I hope it worked. These rolls were the absolute best cinnamon buns I have ever made or eaten. I did not add the nuts or raisins, but I'm sure they would be good that way too. The recipe only makes 8, but they are so incredibly rich that 8 is plenty.

Day#3: The day the snowplow was dispatched to our street. Oh glorious day. The ice ruts were so big, the poor little toyota was bottoming out trying to slide into our parking spot. The ruts were so lumpy that I had to carry Mina across the street because her little legs were not long enough to clear the bumps. Before entering the street you had to say a little prayer that there would not be any oncoming traffic because if there was, there would most certainly be a collision. Some nights, people would get stuck and just abandon their cars. Resulting in a church holiday as there was no way past or around. Sigh. Maybe my defecting sisters have the meterological advantage here. Needless to say, the day the snowplow came to 79 street was quite an event. All the neighbourhood children, and men, were watching. Shovels in hand, waiting to clear the pathways of ice chunks. Glory be. Now there is (almost flat) pavement. This might be my favourite day.

Danger, danger is lurking...

2011-01-23T15:11:00.001-08:00

So what does it mean when you are asked personally to attend the "teaching - no greater calling" series at church, and then later that very day the ward music person asks me "so how is your calling going? Are you still enjoying it?" and so forth. I am afraid to answer the phone or the doorbell, or make eye contact with the Bishop. There, I said it. I am a chicken. Maybe it was just a coincidence. We shall see.

Wednesday

2011-01-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

Hello. I was just online, complaining because the blogs I like to read have not been updated! So I thought perhaps I should update mine, even though no one really reads it. And also not much has been going on here. Lets see. Mina is sick, she has been puking for 3 days. But her breakfast of water and green jello has not yet made a reappearance, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel of laundry that a mother must to after a pukey week. And now of course I am feeling ill... great. Abby and Mina have been real troopers - we have been waking them up at 5:45 on my work days, so that Keith and I can get to school/work on time. It is a terrible thing to have to do to your kids, but happily it is temporary only 5 1/2 more weeks of it. Then Keith will be done school and officially a Journeyman. Then we can begin the next big life plan, whatever that will be. Also I will have a car again for my days off.. Being a one car family is certainly a learning experience. I am house bound on my days off, and because it has been so cold, I am going more then a little bit crazy. So, that's it. My update. Now to do some more laundry.

Holiday Mash Up

2010-12-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas is so much fun. We are having a lovely time here on the veranda this year. I am quite enjoying my week off from work. I am not even wearing my watch, just timing the day on the kids and the activities we are doing. Today was swimming at the fun pool with friends. The other day Keith built a maze/fort in the backyard for the girls. Although now that it is butt cold again, we haven't used it since... Tomorrow is library/pet shop day. Books for Abby and I, viewing of puppies she will never get for Mina. (sounds kind of sad, but she still can dream...) It was quite a sad moment when I had to inform dear Mina that Santa does not bring live animals for Christmas. Only toys, and sometimes clothes and underwear. Yes, even though he is magic. Poor girl. I heard her little heart break a little bit. We did, however, compensate by visiting a friend's house on Christmas Eve where there were 3 very excited and happy dogs who Mina could run around with and let lick her all night long.

The JW's came to my door again. They visit every few weeks, and are very nice. I like to share words of wisdom from the golden plates with them. Well, today they were telling me all about the myths of Christmas. Usually, when we chat, I do not get offended, and we usually agree some if not all of the things they decide to talk about that week. Well, I finally found out why they do not recognize Christmas. Yes, they do believe in Jesus Christ, and that he was born in a manger and so forth, but, do not celebrate this because "no where in the bible does it say to celebrate this event." My goodness! HF sent an incredibly huge star! It was so big you could not tell day from night! Angels were sent and sang beautiful songs! Shepherds and wise men alike came from near and far! They even brought gifts. Sounds like a celebration to me. I wish I had thought to say this when they were still in my doorway, and not 10 minutes later, which is usually the case with me when it comes to important discussions, arguments, petty disagreements etc. I can never think clearly enough during the conversation and only come back when it is too late. Anyhow.. Here are some of the things we do to celebrate Christmas:

Make cookies! Stay up late decorating them. Share them with friends, and make sure to have enough to eat at least a dozen of them yourself.
Have a gingerbread house decorating party with the neighbours kids. FUN!
Turkey dinner. 3 this year! I over booked our social schedule in an attempt to keep so busy that I would not notice that my sista's and the cousins were far far away. It did not help. I noticed.
Have a mini-tree in the girls room so that they can play with and decorate it all season long.
New jammies for Christmas Eve! This year they were homemade princess style.
Tobogganing: still to come, weather dependent.
Cinnamon buns for breakfast - this will be a New Years day thing this year, I hope to be more organized next time around. I found a recipe where you fold cream cheese into the dough, like the way you add butter and fold/roll when making puff pastry. It looks delish and a bit complicated, and I cannot wait to try it.
Little presents tucked into the tree. This is something they do in England that Keith's mom did for her kids. So we are carrying on this tradition and it is very fun.
Online shopping! Three cheers! A friendly, sometimes foreign, fed ex/UPS/Canada Post driver brings parcels right to the door. How wonderful! I really liked this part.
I also really like the "marathons" on TV. Even though I don't get to veg out watching TV long enough for a marathon, I love them, and look forward to a day when I can watch all the Harry Potters back to back.

Those are some Christmas things that I like to do with my family. I realize that the bible does not say to specifically do any of those things, but we do it anyway. I love Christmas hymns and carols especially, and nativity sets, and watching my girls act of the Christmas story. I love doing secret giving, and hearing Abby and Mina sing "away in a manger" in their bunk bed, not knowing that I am listening from the hallway. I love knowing that Christ was born, and lived and taught and showed us the way. I am thankful. I will celebrate.

And Then There Was Light!

2010-12-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, and then there was light. Created by my former Christmas (almost) grinch, Disney suspicious, husband. Now he has not only been to the happiest place on earth no less than 3 times, but has also, with no prodding, pleading, nagging or asking by his Christmas fanatic wife, purchased and installed Christmas lights on our humble abode! I must say, I am very thrilled. We have only ever had them over the door before, because that was all I could reach with the small ladder. But, lo and behold, this year we are the brightest house on the block! One of the best things about living here, when it is dark by the crack of 4:47 PM, is that we get to enjoy the Christmas lights that much longer. I have always loved Christmas lights, and now I have some too. Best Christmas gift ever. Thanks Keith. You are the best.

and so the seasons turn.

2010-11-26T05:53:00.001-08:00

...for the worse, Keith would say. And there are some things I agree with him about. Such as:

Driving the short distance from the grocery store to your home causes all of your fresh produce to freeze and it is ruined. We will die of scurvy! I imagine having to crawl back to the store on my rickety legs, and eating raw potato's from the shelf.
Blinking while outdoors is hazardous. Every time you do, your eyelashes freeze together, and when your eyes open, at least a few of them have ripped out. But you don't feel it, because your skin is frozen. Soon, we will all look like we have alopecia.
Having to really consider whether or not to adjust the rear view mirror in the car. Choosing not to, because if you do, the plastic will very likely break (just like that time the door handle snapped off) and then you won't have a mirror at all. So you drive like Quasimoto attempting to see out the back window when having to change lanes.

These things, and others, make winter awful. But there are also some very great things, and I was trying to convince Keith of this the other day.

In the morning, early, walking to the train. No one else is around, and yours are the only footprints. It is dark, the sky is clear and there are more stars then you remember, and it is so quiet because of the new snow which is crunchy and sparkling.
The sharp intake of excited breath from the kids, who on seeing the new snow want to go outside immediately, even with jammies on under their snowpants to go and play in it.
Christmas lights. Although those inflatables really annoy me.
My birthday.
Tobogganing down very dangerous hills. Hot chocolate in a thermos.
The sound of shovels scraping all around your neighborhood. It echo's at night and everyone sounds so industrious.
Having an unspoken contest with your neighbour to see who can shovel each other's sidewalk the most.
Seeing the city lights when driving at night, well, anytime after 4:30 when it is dark, always reminds me of driving to Calgary at Christmas time and we would be sleepy and excited, and we would drive over that last hill and there would be this sea of city lights in front of us and we knew we were there.

And those are a few of my favourite things.

In Lieu of Halloween

2010-11-05T08:42:00.001-07:00

Here is Georgia, who I am smitten with. She wanted to play with ME, not her mom! I think I now qualify as a fun favourite Auntie!
And here, Big and Little Red have a fun game of peek-a-boo. Again, very cute.
Ah, the Hogwart's express, with Oakley wandering off to do his own thing. Oh Oakley, we should implant you with a GPS microchip.
Eden and Abby together. They were so nice to eachother the whole time! I expected some girlie disagreements, but nope, they were both very happy and sharing the whole time! I am one proud mamma!
Ah, the Butterbeer. That alone is reason to go back again. Butter beer is like a rootbeer float, but with a butterscotch/caramel flavour. Very good!

We had a great time in Orlando, and accomplished some excellent cousin bonding. Thank you Dad for a wonderful fun trip! Everyone had a blast, and many great memories were made.

The Great Wind

2010-10-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a funny story about my dear husband. He works very hard, and does many different things during the day. Yesterday, he found himself on top of an industrial building's roof, and a great wind came up. The great wind blew down his ladder and he was stranded on the top of the roof. Luckily, he was rescued not too long after the great wind. The End.

My day at work was not nearly as interesting. However I did sneeze really hard, and got a bloody nose. So I had so sit in the back and wait for it to stop. Very embarrassing and inconvenient. I like to think that perhaps Keith was stranded on the roof, and I was sitting in the staff room bleeding at the same time. Ahh, bonding.

The Cute Little Old Lady in the Mall

2010-09-29T13:32:00.001-07:00

You know how strangers will observe you and your children, and find that they really must go up to you, even though they don't know you from Adam!, and deliver some obviously much needed advice? When my girls were babies and toddlers (sigh), I very often got: "you know, you should really out some mittens on your poor child". Because I am such a dummy that I obviously want my kids to loose their fingers to frostbite. But really I had just put mittens on them 8 times walking down one block and had finally given up. Often people would comment, or raise their eyebrows about how and what I fed my kids. Usually it was something related to nursing my babies. Even then, I did not react emotionally, I am pretty levelheaded about these things. Even when strangers are stupid, they usually do not mean any harm.

Today Mina and I went to the mall with a friend (Yay! I have a friend!!) and her girls. Mina had a knock-down drag-out tantrum. I had finally caught up to her and brought her to a bench and was holding on to her while she finished her outburst. A little old lady comes over. I think she had been at the mall to get her hair blued. She stoops down to us and hisses to Mina (with perio breath, I might add. NuNu will understand the horrors.)

"YOU MUST BE NICE TO YOUR MOMMY OR I WILL BRING YOU TO THE BAD MEN!!"

Holy crappola! Who says that to their kids? Who says that to other peoples kids? What an awful awful thing to say to a sad and angry little girl and her flustered mother! I could not believe it! Now poor little Mina has another reason to cry. I did not even know what to respond to this wicked witch, so I picked Mina off the bench and carried her to the car assuring her that she could be as bad as she wanted and I would never ever ever take her to a bad man. And that the little old lady was really the wicked witch from Hansel and Gretel. (well, I did not actually say that part..)

So. Watch out for cute little old ladies. Especially the ones with blue hair. There is something unnatural about them.

In Which I Finally Post Some Photos

2010-09-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

So that my readers will not be so bored! I have been v. lazy about that. So here we go, although I seem to be impaired as far as labelling and downloading them in order goes. So, bare with me.

see- look! Now the text is below all of the pictures! Sheesh. So, first off is Keith and the girls, on the happy happy celebration of his birth. Which was quite lovely, especially as I finally have my own fenton milk glass cake salver. Why yes, after many tries, I became an ebay winner, and no longer have to covet my sister's cake stand. The solution to covetousness, is to just get your own, (whether it be a cake stand, or your neighbours wife... ha ha...)

And then, Abigael on her first day of grade 2. She has requested that her teacher call her Abigael this year. My, how grown up of her.

And lastly, a sister grouping. We had a fun weekend here before the departure of Bunny to Halifax, and P's imminent departure to DC. She looks happy here, but I think we did not quite fill the void left by her absent husband... If you look closely in the background, you can see my other milk glass aquisition, a 2 tiered desert plate found in an antique mall.

Later I will post some pictures of the parents, yes dad and mom are here this weekend to enjoy the corn fest at my church!. How fun. Taber corn for all, and a display of peoples talents - I am going to display my wedding dress. Now I must be off to make sure that mom does not eat all of the sugar I have in the house.

2 random thoughts, and one confession.

2010-08-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think it would be funny if we (we meaning people with weird names) changed our names to the words that spell check thinks that we mean. My top two alternative spell check names are: serene and veranda. I rather like to think of myself as Serene Veranda when I am blogging, or sending e mails, or signing my name to anything that has spell check enabled. When I google my name, I end up with stories about a racehorse, and pictures of a porno model, who uses my name as a stage/print name, or Axel Rose's ex wife. Which is a bit funny because in high school, I could do a great Axel impersonation.
A recent Mina conversation: M: mom, what are these holes in my nose called? S.V.: "nostrils" M: "Look mom, I can put my tongue inside my nostrils!" That little girl is so flexible she can pick her nose with her tongue. What a time saver...
Sometimes, instead of making dinner, I make peanut butter cookies, or apple pie. And, I don't really feel bad about it. (I have found a great sour cream pastry recipe that was wonderful and easy! I normally have trouble with pastry, but this recipe is great. Maybe I'll post it later.)

Serene Veranda

First half of Summer re-cap

2010-08-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

Summer is half over! We have had rain and thunder all summer long here, so it has not really seemed summer-y. Although truth be told, I hate the heat, and love electrical storms. We have had a fun summer so far though.

We had a visit to SL, and put in some good beach time with the family.
We have gone swimming at the wave pool, where I had some great bonding time with Abby. I have been thinking about her attitude problems, and perhaps she just needs more quality mom time. Her happiness factor jumped by nearly a million that day, when she and I hung out at the pool and I did not have to say "no" all day. I think that I need to treat her more like the 7 year old she is, rather than the grown up she seems to be.
Abby has attended horse camp, and plans to go again next year. So if anyone wants to contribute cans, bottles, and milk jugs, they are welcome for the cause! She even went on the overnight sleepover. I think it was hard for her, as she forgot her special blanket, and had a nose bleed that night. Also there was an incredible lightning storm that night. But she did it!
We have been to the zoo, and the girls are going again with their babysitter. Much fun was had, especially seeing Uncle Dan fold himself into the child sized train compartment.
Fort Edmonton has been conquered, by 6 cousins! That was a very fun day, except for the grumpy conductor who does not like children to have any fun. He needs a new job - he takes trains way to seriously!
Keith, my most excellent husband, who not only can fix anything, but can also make anything better, even when you did not know it was in need of betterment, installed a hot tap for the hose outside! So now, the kids can fill the wading pool with water that is not ice cold! Yay!
Also earning him the best husband ever award, is when he set up a ladder and brought Abby and I up to the roof of the garage to watch the fireworks. The yearly exhibition happens merely blocks away from home. Usually this only serves to bother me, as the outdoor stage is really loud when I am trying to go to sleep. But getting to see fireworks 10 nights in a row is a pretty cool perk. If we ever move, we should list that on the feature sheet.
Canada Day was celebrated at our church's pancake breakfast. We have a super activities lady now, and she throws the best parties. There was a jumpy castle, more than enough food, a bike parade, singing the whole national anthem by the flag. Very fun. I love my country. And also my church.
We are renewing our mortgage. It is all very grown up. I met with the bank lady and she was very impressed with the state of our finances! It was quite a compliment to hear that we are doing a few things right! It made me feel like staying in this house, rather than taking on the debt of a bigger/better place. We can pay off our mortgage within 10 years! This thought made me feel much happier about my home. Although now rather than dreaming of building a new house, I am consumed with thoughts of building an addition... I think in another life I would like to be an architect/designer/engineer of houses and develop floor plans and blueprints all day.

I am sure there is more, and there is still another snow-less month to enjoy. But, today, I must go and get my tire fixed. As is exploded yesterday. (Well, that is how it felt. Really, I just ran over a nail. A nice stranger named Frank helped my change it. Thanks Frank!)

Mixed Bag

2010-06-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

Tell me, why is this blue and underlined, and why are the pics in the wrong place? You will have to deal with it. I don't have the patience to fix it. Above, are 3 lovely donut eaters. I have another picture of Ivy just after this bite, with colourful sprinkles all over her cheeks. Very cute. Alas, blogger decided not to load it properly. Notice, as the picnic table says, we were in Colfax.
And here is young Goldilocks. The bedtime curlers worked magic!
Above is my slipcover project! Imagine that there is a hem in place, it is not quite finished yet. I have decided that my home furnishings etc. will never really be subdued. I have kids, and I like the colours. I may place a red throw on the couch though, to tame the blooms a bit.

In other news...
City Mouse vs: Country Mouse.
Remember that story, with the 2 cousin mice? Well, I kid of volley in between being a city mouse, an country mouse. I love my new commute to work. I walk about 8 minutes to the train station, jump on the train, where I watch strangers going about their lives, and dream up novels based on the snippets I observe.

Like the man who was running for the train and just as he got in the door, a white plastic horse fell out of his pocket and clattered down to the platform. He turned and looked at it, trying to open the door to get it, but it was too late and the train sped away. Was it his daughter's horse? Was it a gift for a little boy's birthday? Was it his good luck bingo charm? We will never know. Or, the man in the expensive suit, with really nice leather shoes. He had a laptop, but was using it to balance a plastic case in which his needle point supplies were resting. He was quietly cross-stitching a scene of a lighthouse, with waves crashing up against what would become rocks. Who is this corporate cross-stitcher? Is he an lawyer, zenning out on the train before a big case? The plastic surgeon from the 14th floor, whom I am working up the courage to see about my droopy eyelids? Alas, we do not know.

Then, voila, 10 minutes later I am in the lobby of my building. I even have a doorman guy, Abdul. There is a Timmys in my lobby, and even though there are often 30 people in line, I can get served in about 4 minutes. I think I will buy Abdul a coffee next week. Then up to my 8th floor office, where I can look out the window and see planes landing and taking off at the muni, trains far off in the distance, and automobiles down below. If I had binoculars, I could peek into the window of the room where my first born took her first breath. I have a wonderful new job that seems too good to be true. (my boss likes to go down to the lobby and buy candy inbetween patients.) 2 blocks down there is a high end grocery store which I will check out over lunch one day, if it ever stops raining. Plus a huge new and used book store across the street.

These are things I love about the city. I am trying very hard to notice the things I love about the city and my place in it, because I often get caught up in complaining about all of the things I hate about city life. But I am not going to do that today.

Zabava!

2010-04-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

To all who read this Meagre blog: You are invited to our end of the year dancing celebration on Saturday May 8! Abby is very excited, because it means she will not have to wear the squeezy headband, and Mina also gets to dance and "dress like a flower".

On an aside note, would it be improper if I had the bishop announce once and for all in sacrament meeting that: "No, Sister Nixon is not pregnant. She has merely gained 6 pounds, which puts her at a much healthier weight than her previous all time high of 98. So go and concentrate on your own extra 50 or so and mind your own freaking business. Let us pray."

What we did for Easter.

2010-04-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hi all. I can't figure out how to arrange pictures in the right order with text... That is the cake, of delicious raspberry goodness that P and I made for Easter desert. It was V. yummy! (Patience, I stole that "V" thing from you. I hope you don't mind.)
Here is Abby, getting her make up done. Very fancy. Nothing makes this girl happier than some girl time with an Auntie.
Here are the girls, and their surrogate parents for the weekend at the zoo. Abby was not interested in having her picture taken at this time. And, I should have cropped out that stranger. oh well.

We had a very fun time visiting P and D over Easter. The egg hunt in the apartment was really fun, Mina was so excited about finding eggs in her shoes! Thank you for having us! The girls are amassing a feather collection to tickle Uncle Dan with for next time....

Guest Blogger!

2010-03-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

Introducing my new guest blogger! Here is the very first post by Abigael! Mar. 21 2010

Hi! I just cut my hair. I get to go to my friend's birthday party!It's at Lets Play.

Well, thank you Abigael, for joining Meagre Offerings today. How fancy of me to have a Guest Bloger! Mina is a bit to young to blog as of yet. If she could, she would write: " I'm hungry. But I don't like any of the things you are suggesting to eat. All I want is a peanut butter and jam sandwich. I'm a robot."

Tuesday's Trials

2010-03-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Tuesday. A terrific day to :

be attacked by your babysitter's dog. (I am okay, other than being bruised and sore.) But he tore a hole in my NEW FAVOURITE hoodie. And now I am rather terrified of him. My new babysitter starts in April! YAY! (decision unrelated to dog incident).
discover that someone tried to break in to my car. Silver lining, the damage is not big, I think someone came by while the jerk was getting started. So I might become the next annoying person with a sensitive car alarm that goes off every time someone walks by. Sorry. Jerks.
finish antibiotics. Discover that at least part of my ear/sinus/head infection must not be bacterial because my head still feels like there is a wrecking ball swinging back and forth inside of it. Although my ear does feel better, and the roof of my mouth is no longer numb.

Ponder excess weight.
PROS

My cups overfloweth. Rather nicely I must say. Keith agrees.
It is much healthier to be more than 100 lbs.
It is good to have a couple of those extra lbs for the lean times of crohn's which overcome me.

CONS

My pants do not button comfortably. Which reminds me of the extra lbs every minute of every day and that is what makes me feel fat.
Today there was a slight jiggle when I drove over a pot hole. Not a nice feeling.
I can no longer get away with eating a bakers dozen of sugar cookies with thick buttercream frosting. This is very sad, and I think about those cookies daily. I think this is what my sisters meant when they would talk about the evils of butter all day long. Now I understand, and I apologize for having being annoyed at the time about it.

Solutions

I think the best thing to do is to buy a couple of new pairs of pants.

PS: I like bullet lists. They make me feel justified in using poor grammar.

Keeping Promises

2010-03-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

Abby's first Ukrainian Dancing performance was a couple of weeks ago. It was at a seniors home, and many of the residents were asleep in their wheelchairs. Cute story about 2 of the ladies who live there. They are the best of friends, do everything together, hold eachother up when they walk down the halls, eat together in the dining room, do crafts together. One speaks only Portugese, the other only Ukrainian. Neither can understand a word the other says! They were very happy sitting together, watching the kids.

In this dance school, you rent the costumes - and just have to pay for cleaning at the end of the year. No more mom's having to figure out how to make them! Sweet. They actually buy the costumes directly from a village in the old country. 3 of Abby's primary classmates are in her dance class. Abby will be having an end of the year thing too - I'll give you dates soon. Mina will dance at that one too. (her class just does the one performance.)

Well, I tried to upload the video, but it is just to darn slow. I tried! So Instead I will instruct you on how to dress like a 3 year old.

1: Put on a brightly coloured shirt. Backwards. (Certainly do not choose the shirt that your mum hunted for at the mall for 3 hours that matches the skort she made you.)
2: Ignore the fact that it is still winter time. Put on the cute Diego skort your mum made you. (because the Thomas the Train one is dirty.)
3: Add a pair of purple fairy socks. The skatey ones that you can skate with on the floor. (All socks must be skatey, or do not even bother buying them. Even though the rubber grips would be so helpful for a girl who falls down as much as this one does.)
4: You must always wear a hat. Actually, a toque. Every day and all day, it must be on. Otherwise your hair gets in your face and causes endless tantrums and gets food in it.
5: Cover the big scrapes on your knees with special Diego bandaids. (Hey - they match the skort!) The scrapes are because you were not wearing tights, leggings, pants or snowpants when you went running down the sidewalk, with your winter boots on the wrong feet, and fell. Hard. In front of the gorcery store, with big tears running down your cheeks, and blood running down your shins.

Before I was a parent, I decided I would never give in to buying licensed things for my kids. I would not become a part of the marketing machine that is taking over the world and brainwashing all of our children. blah blah blah. Everything was going to be gender neutral, with no recognizable trade-marked images on them. Ha. It makes this girl so very happy to have Thomas or Diego on her shirt, you'd think she had died and gone to heaven. With Abby, all she needs is a horse and she is the same way.

Wednesday

2010-02-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

Well hello there.

I have sick children. Ear infections, colds and whatnot. We have not slept well for a week, waking up all night long for Mina's horrible coughs, and then her sad sad cries. "Mummy I am so so sad. My tummy hurts and I have snotties." Her ears started bugging her last night. I think her head was really stuffed up. She was really tired and delirious, I think. "Why is the house floating? Why are there flies all over the wall?' I am not sure that she needs the antibiotics that Papa so kindly called in for her though, as her ears are not as bad as last night. But I must say, the codeine put her out like a light last night, she slept all night long, with no coughing fits at all. Blessed blessed codeine. Sadly though, she is not well enough for me to go to the gym today. And it would probably be bad parenting to drug her up so I could exercise. Perhaps today will be a yoga on TV day. Painting the kitchen ceiling could be a good workout too...

Tonight is Abby's first Ukrainian dance performance. She will be dancing at a seniors nursing home. I promise to post some pictures! My blog is so void of colour I really must pick up my camera again. It is just that sometimes, having a camera in hand all the time makes me feel so separate from what is going on. Like I am watching, not participating.

For my birthday, I got an little mini IPOD. So e mail me your favourite running playlists! I also received some very awesome olympic gear. I heart the winter olympics. Go Canada!

Some Wednesday things

2010-02-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

Today I learned that Pretzels + Nutella = Bliss. I don't buy nutella, but dad gave me a jar last summer, and it was close to expiry. So in the spirit of good food storage and rotation, and not throwing away perfectly good food, considering Haiti, I am eating it.

We also learned (a few days ago) that our cat will live another day. At least. She is not at deaths door. She will probably continue to crap on the floor for many more moons. But the good news is that she has stopped vomiting. Therefore, our basement reno ( laminate flooring) will remain a distant dream. The bathroom however, is coming along nicely.

I have also learned that exercising really DOES feel good! I always thought that my sisters (and others) were crazy liars. Sorry. I even like getting all sweaty at the gym, and feeling my heart pumping. And Keith says that my face does not get all red, like I told him it would. (but then, he may have said that just to be supportive and loving, which he is.) And I did not fall down over my step in class this week. Also, there is a class I really love which is a cross between ballet and yoga. So 3 cheers for the gym!

Close your Eyes

2010-02-11T07:37:00.000-08:00

You are going to have to close your eyes. And imagine for a minute. Because I did not bring my camera with me, so cannot share with you the funny pictures. And a still picture just would not do anyway.

Ukrainian dancing class. Parent viewing day. A group of 3 and 4 year olds, little Mina among them. She is the smallest, and the youngest by about 6 months. They are all lined up, as straight as possible for 3 and 4 yr olds.

Except for Mina, who stand apart, facing the wrong way.

The teacher asks the children to imagine a ball, right in front of their feet. And tells the children to kick the ball "one, two, one two", and do the "kick kick" step. So the children kick their balls, one two, one two.

Except for Mina, whose ball has rolled across the gym. She follows after it, picks it up and throws it in the air. Then it starts to bounce, and so she hops around in a circle, like her ball.

The other children are doing "kick kick" in unison.

Mina's ball has once again rolled away.

Now it is time for the "stomp" step. (It is Ukrainian dancing after all, not ballet!) The teacher asks the children to imagine a bug on the floor, and to stomp on it. Which the children do happily, it is fun to stomp on bugs.

Except for Mina, who does the initial stomp, then sits down, and removes the bug from the bottom of her dancing slipper, walks to the corner of the gym, and puts it down on the floor. then tries to find more bugs on the floor.

And when it is time to "draw a line on the floor to hop over", Miss Mina sits down, drawing a line that turns into a letter M, and then finishes writing the "INA".

I think that perhaps she is not going to be a dancer. Her dancing teacher says that "Mina makes me sweat! She is very, um.... Artistic". (But not in a danc-ey sort of way.)

So Keith and I, sitting on the bench, tried very hard not to pee our pants laughing.

Unexpected

2010-01-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I just did something shocking and unexpected.

I joined a gym.
Because I want to be fit.
I want to run, and refuse to do it in the cold winter, which is 3/4 of the year here.
Because I have no room in my 750 square foot house for a treadmill.
Because my brand new running shoes are gathering dust while waiting for better weather.
Because they have Thomas the Train stuff in the gym's daycare.
Because I want an excuse to buy and ipod and listen to Roxette really loudly.

Saturday

2010-01-16T14:19:00.000-08:00

Well, the sunbeams last week did not shine. The other teacher (there are too many kids for one class) did not show up. So guess who got to "teach" not 6, but 12 Sunbeams? Me. And, I did not bring enough supplies for 12 kids, so 1/2 of my plans were not useable. Disaster. And, I fed one of them something she was allergic too. Even better. My approach this week is to adhere to a strict schedule. And also bring dairy/egg/nut free candy.

In other news,

Today I primed the walls of the new bathroom. Very exciting. I am quite happy that I redid the lifting seam, as that wall looks very nice now.
Keith has a job! It seems to be a good fit. We are working on how to arrange my work/childcare with his new schedule. I am cultivating a friendship with a teenager who I see in the AM while we are waiting for the bus. I hope that she might be interested in watching the girls on days that Keith has to work late.
Tonight we are going to IKEA for dinner. A fun field trip for the girls, because now Mina and Abby can both play in Smalland, and Keith and I can browse towel racks, mirrors, and the as-is asile at our leisure. One of the other good things about not having a baby in the family.
On the same topic, today was swimming lessons, and for the first time, I did not have to go in the water with them!

(am I maybe, perhaps trying too hard to convince myself that we don't need another baby?) It's just that I am noticing all of these little life changes which tell me that our family has entered a new stage. It is certainly food for thought.

A nothing post

2010-01-10T05:52:00.000-08:00

Well folk, this is a nothing post. Or maybe not. Who knows. Sometimes it feels like I have nothing to say, and I should just do a duty post, because all of my sisters have new posts up.

I have not finished my basement bathroom yet. One of my tape seams was lifting. I tried to stick it down with more mud, but that looked just awful. So I finally just ripped it out, and started again. So, It will be another 3 day cycle of sanding and mudding before I can prime and paint. Thanks to youtube, I learned that fixing the seam is really not a big deal, and I was over sanding. Youtube is great for stuff like that! I was trying to watch the reno shows on HGTV to find out what I was doing wrong, but they never show the boring and tedious ins and outs of tapping and mudding drywall. (Really - all of those HGTV marathons I may have watched over Christmas break were research, not lazy procrastination! ha ha)

My friend just found out she is pregnant. I am very happy and excited for her. But the strange (for me) thing is that I was not jelous or wishing it was me. I was more jelous of the fact that she had a moose walk by her front window yesterday, not of the pregnancy. Just kind of strange to me, because usually that kind of news paints me very green with envy.

In other news, my new primary job is the Sunbeams. Last week was a disaster. They are used to nursery where they get to play and eat. I actually have to control them and teach them. For 2 hours. I really hope today goes better than last week. I woke up to horrible dreams about loosing some of them when I took them for a potty break. I think this week I shall bring candy for them. And if their parents have a problem with that, then they can have my job of teaching 6 sunbeams and try to do it without bribery. I hope that I can become a better Sunbeam teacher. If you have any tips, please share. My new idea for this week, courtesy of some LDS website, is to bring them "primary pets" (beanie babies from the thrift store) that they have to hold and keep quiet during the combined primary time. Our lesson today is about how our bodies are like HF's body. So we will be tracing our body shape and colouring it, reading a book about body parts, and playing with Mr Potato Head. And the candy. Church is now at 9AM! YAY! So, I better get going.

just need to say

2009-12-22T21:17:00.000-08:00

...that it makes me really sad when my sisters do not return my phone calls. For days or weeks. Very sad indeed. It's because I can't text, isn't it? I feel so uncool. sigh.

Christmas!

2009-12-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

Today is the Christmas season, as Mina likes to say. We are having lots of fun doing festive things. So far, we had made no less than 12 batches of cookies, most of which have already been eaten or shared. I did freeze a container full to bring to mom's house, but even that stash is getting nibbled on. By me. I have also eaten a box of Toffiffee's, almost by myself, and am working on another. I think I need to control myself, as my pants feel too tight. Auntie Patience has come to visit, and we took her to our ward's Christmas party, which ROCKED! It was so well done and so much fun. (when was the last time you head that about a ward Christmas party?) Patience also took the girls shopping to pick out gifts for Keith and I. I am not sure how much fun it was for Patience (busy mall, 1 week until Christmas, 2 excited kids.) But I enjoyed getting books at the Library while I waited for them. I am very happy that they did not want to sit on santa, as I have issues with that. Okay, I'll tell you my issues.

Santa is really a stranger. I don't want my kids talking to, taking candy from, or sitting on the lap of a stranger. Oh whispering secrets in his ear.
He touches hundreds of kids a day. Think of all the H1N1 living on those white gloves.
It could be a stewie underneath that fat suit. Nuff said.
While I do carry on the santa tradition, gifts, stockings, etc., I hate having to add more lies to the story "he is just a helper. He is here until Christmas Eve when he goes back to the N pole. He is magic and can be everywhere at once. Abby is very smart, as most 6 yr olds are, and would question me until kingdom come trying to get an answer and I'd have to make it all up on the spot. And, I'd probably mess it up and ruin the magic of it all. Oh the therapy.
Line ups. Being that physically close to a bunch of stressed out parents and sticky kids who are not my own. Not fun.
Paying 20 bucks for a commemerative photo.

We have also made home made Christmas cards, sang many songs (Mina's Jingle Bells version is really cute), and today was my CTR 5 Christmas party. Five 5 yr olds came over and we crafted and had lunch. I did feel bad about asking Keith to hide his coffee though. I was going to post pics, but am not sure about putting other peoples children on the net. So just imagine them here. There has been much playing outside, as we have a lot of fresh snow, more falling even as I type. And Mina is old enough that I do not have to go out with them anymore. Hooray for me, I get to be warm. I finished typing up the Christmas recipes, I have finished my course at G Macewan. I think my next extra curricular activity will be a stained glass class.

Keith has some time off. Well, he is looking for a job actually. So if you are a plumbing company in Edmonton, give us a call. In the mean time, he is building equity in the form of a basement bathroom. We are very excited about it! One b-room is not enough. And the new one will be much better than what was there before. Just ask Nunu what a pit it used to be. So, while is does suck that Keith currently is not employed, he is using this time to build a bathroom and it will be much appreciated by all. (I don't want to say "unemployed" because that makes him sound like a pogey bum, and he is being anything BUT lazy!)

So Merry Christmas All!

Bread!

2009-12-07T06:06:00.000-08:00

I am becoming good at making bread! 3 successful weeks in a row! Thanks mom, for the hands on lesson this summer. She taught me how to knead the dough properly by hand. I was using my kitchenaid before, and as much as I love the kitchenaid, for me, it always wrecked my bread. But when I knead it by hand, voila - perfection! Plus, I love the way you can feel the flour and stuff coming together and changing consistency. Being only 5 feet tall, I need to stand on a stool, so that I am at proper kneeding height. I think that helps the bread too. I still like to sit in front of the oven and watch the bread bake. I remember having a little stool for that when I was little.

Remember when we were little and mom was baking bread, and would always make us be quite and not run around when it was baking or rising? Because it would "fall"? Well, I think she only said that for some much needed peace and quiet. My kids were loud and jumping around the kitchen the whole time, and the bread did not fall. Not even a bit. So, I think mom Just said that to keep us quiet. Maybe that is why she made bread so much, so that we would not be crazy all the time... Good strategy mom, we all won with that one. Bread for us, and 2 hours of peace and quiet for you.

2 posts in 1 week!

2009-11-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

How unusual. Usually it is one a month! My children have the swine flu. Poor babies. They are very sick. Abby is heartbroken about missing her school play today. While I am of course concerned about them, part of me wants to make curly piggy tails and pin them on to their jammie pants. But I should probably not make light of a situation. I get in trouble that way sometimes.

Photo Updates

2009-11-03T07:45:00.001-08:00

Here are the Halloween costumes: a Mermaid, and Mavis the train. 100% home made!
This was a really foggy morning at our bus stop.
Hmm. I think I posted this one already. oops.
A better look at the Mermaid! I am so pleased with how it turned out!
Patience and Dan came and we went to the greenhouse/cornmaze. It was really a fun time! I think we will make it a Halloween tradition.
Here we are in the corn maze. Dan was the navigator, he was tall enough to see over the corn!
Aunite Bunny was up a while ago - there is always lots of crafting happening when she is here. She and Abby added wings to the horses.

Weird Wednesday

2009-09-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

For lack of a better title, Wednesday begins with a W, as does Weird, and today is, you guessed it, Wednesday. Although nothing weird has happened. I did get to go for lunch with my mom, on her way to Coronation street. She was so cute, she was vibrating with excitement. While we were out I bumped into a former patient of mine, one of my favourite people ever, Norma. Her husband just died and she was very sad. And in the middle of this serious and sad conversation, she asked me if she could make some new puppet mittens for my girls, as the last ones she made must be too small by now. She is such a sweet sweet lady, and I am so happy to have met up with her today. I think that is the best part of my job, people like Norma. Tonight I start my class at Grant MacEwan, and I found out that the U of A is considering a midwifery program. Very hopeful! Hopefully within 3 or 4 years, I can just do that, instead of settling for LD Nursing.

End of Summer Top 5

2009-08-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is officially almost over. There are yellow leaves on the trees already, we are busy thinking about back to school shopping, bussing schedules, and what to be for Halloween. My top 5 summer 2009 highlights are:

Seattle Sister Extravaganza: How fun to get together will all of the girls! We must do this at LEAST once every 2 years. Thank you for inspiring me to learn to run. My first goal is to do a 5K in summer of 2010. I have only gone out running a few times so far, as summer scheduling has been all over the place. But once we are into a good fall routine it will be much easier to keep up with it.

Colfax Cousin Camp: Letting the cousins play and get to know each other is priceless. It was so fun to hang out at Betina's beautiful home for a week. I hope that all of our kids - the unborn future ones included, will become good friends.

Disney Family Reunion: Of course Disneyland is the perfect place for a huge family reunion. They just know how to take care of families! Thank you Dad for the awesome holiday, everyone had so much fun. I finally got a chance to do the Indiana Jones ride, and scared myself silly on the Malibu Screamer.

Potty Training, Mina Style: Step one - put on panties. Step two - Throw away diapers. Mission complete. She rocks!

Tooth Fairy Visits: Abby lost 2 teeth this summer, one at Disneyland! She is growing up so much. I love this great girl!

PS: I discovered today that I have a lot of jam in my fridge.

ED Smith triple berry
Bonne Maman mixed fruit
Smuckers Strawberry
Smuckers seedless Raspberry
Plum Jam
Apricot Jam

That seems like a lot, but I keep trying new recipes, and they all need some specific jam.

On the topic of recipes... I am collecting the Christmas recipes this year. So please send me no less than 3 yummy recipes that you have been loving in 2009. Please have this to me by November 15th. Thank you, I will send out a e mail as well. And reminder e mails too.

About Mina

2009-08-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

Two things about Mina this week...

I wish I could say that she is always well behaved, and would never think of running away from her family in public. However, that is not my daughter. She loves to run away, and sometimes just gets distracted and goes her own way. So, I have made a harness for her, to use while in Disneyland. Yes, I admit that I am going to tie my child to a leash. Please do not judge me, I am not a bad parent! Besides, she really likes it, and pretends to be a puppy.

Also, she has foiled my potty training "plans". I was going to think about doing it once Abby was back in school, but yesterday, she made the choice to start. She has been very successful so far! I am worried about DLand though, and the airplane ride. I am going to have to bring so many more clothes now. Sheesh! But I will not complain about it, because she is not showing the same difficulties that Abby did.

Colfax Cousin Camp!

2009-08-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

This one is from the Appaloosa Horse Museum. It was a big highlight of Abby's holiday. They have a contest where you can buy a ticket and the prize is a real live Appaloosa horse! I am so happy that Abby did not see the poster about that, or she would have choose a ticket for the draw as her souvenir instead of the stuffed horse we brought home.
Mom loves having her picture taken, especially in front of tourist landmarks, like the World's Biggest Truck. Abby, not so much.
Here we are at the WSU Creamery eating ice cream. We were too late for the cheese making demonstration, but did get to buy a can of really yummy cheese to take home for Keith. I love ice cream. I think next time we should go more often to the creamery, so that I can try more of the yummy flavours!
Here are 2 kissing cousins. Sortly after this, Mina gave Ivy a hug, and Ivy fell backwards and rolled down the little slope behind her. Very cute.
2 Cow-girl cousins. The horse is Danny, and the girls had a really fun time with him. They even got to use the reins and direct him where to go. Pretty cool!

My only regret about this trip is that I did not bring a camera on the boat with us, when Betina's friend took us tubing. But it was really hot out, and therefore I was feeling like poop. So I did not even think about bringing it. I wish I had pictures of Eden and Abby together on the tube, and especially of mom after she was dunked upside-down under the water. Mina even took a turn on the tube, and she cried when her turn was over. She is such an adventurous little two-two!

Thank you Betina for showing us such a good time. We all really enjoyed ourselves and had a great trip. The girls are already asking when we can come again!

Some photographical updates

2009-07-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

The main even this week: Abby lost her first tooth! She is overjoyed. I am a happy/sad. Another "growing up" sort of event that makes me feel all conflicted. Maybe that is why I am doing nothing about potty training Mina. I just don't want them to grow up so fast!
Getting pretty. Auntie Eve gave Abby a make up set and Abby loves it. She even shares it with Mina! wow. Thanks Auntie Eve. Sharing does not happen often around here these days!
Here is Abby's reaction when we (finally) told her about going to Disneyland this summer.
This was the day of Abby's 6th birthday party.
Mina often takes off all of her clothes for no reason at all, and then I find her places, carrying on with her naked life. When she does this in combination with a tantrum at the medicentre, that is when it is time to go home.
Here are my girls. Abby can be such a nice big sister. They are so cute together in one big bed. It is hard to spot them sometimes, there are at least 8 pillows and no less than 50 stuffies at a time....

Inspiration

2009-07-03T09:10:00.001-07:00

Here at long last is a picture of the runners! Seattle was so much fun. We did not get even a drop of rain and the weather was great. We stayed downtown and there was lots to do. I think it would make a good family holiday spot! The energy and excitement of the marathon was very inspiring, and I have decided to learn to run so that one day I can cross the finish line with my sisters. Although not for a marathon! Those crazies all looked mostly dead, had ice packs cling-wrapped to every joint below their waists and were falling over. The 1/2 marathoners on the other hand looked happy, but tired out. It was quite a contrast. Anyway, I bought some over-priced shoes, and some walmart special shorts and an exercise shirt. I never ever in a million years thought that running would ever be something I would do, but I am going to give it a try. One day, I might get to run with my sisters. And I will also gain the skills to run away from a bear, if I ever need to.

Abby Soundbite

2009-06-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

Today gramma is visiting.

Abby: Brings her Trilobite cast that she made in Drumheller for Gramma to see.
"Look Gramma!"

Gramma: "Oh, what a nice footprint".

A: "It's not a footprint."

G: "Is is a bug?"

A: Rolls eyes. "It is a TRILOBITE. It is a sea creature from the early cretaceous. (Stomps off sighing to herself), I'll go get the book and look it up for you..."

Later...

A: "Mum, isn't Gramma a teacher?"

Me: " Um, yes, but she teaches special ed." (Was that wrong of me to say??)

The Mother Weekend

2009-05-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I sent to ye ole home town of Slave Lake, and visited my mom, along with 3 sisters. We had a lot of fun hanging out with mom, and she loved it. I think she gets really lonely up there. Eve made bread with mom, and did lots of scrubbing - but I think the crazy girl actually enjoys the scrubbing! I went for a nature walk with mom while all of the athletic types ran away from us, and we all went to the movie. My mom was surrounded by a whole row of us at the movie theater, instead of being by herself. I think it was the highlight of the weekend for her. We also gorged on orange slurpees. mmmm, and the campfire smores of course. I had a chance to visit with an old friend and it was so nice to see her! Although being around her kids made me miss mine. Definately bringing the family up there next time. We even cruised mainstreet in her '68 Camaro. Being inside that car makes even a 30 something mom with the mom ponytail and a sinus infection feel cool. I think that might have been the highlight of my weekend. The weather was beautiful, and of course being in SL in the summertime always makes me want to move back. I miss the nature, the open spaces and well, the non citiness of it. ( All the things I hated as a teenager...) The black preacher at the old IGA, the small town gossip at the health store coffee shop, picking up mail at the PO, the REX, Tags, the deer and coyote sightings, the horses and cows, the quads and boats, the lake, seeing more of the stars. You can just, breathe, there. I think when I am done educating myself, we are going to have to seriously consider a move back to nature.

The Best

2009-05-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

The best $13 I have spent this week:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090323.wStyle0323/BNStory/lifeStyle/home

Did that show a picture? Or just a link? I am so not good at this...

Anyhow, this cheese grater like device has transformed my hideous heels from revolting to almost normal. I know that I am not the only sister with hideous heels, so if you want to try something new, other than moving to the perfect climate of California, try this! It is kind of gross really, to think about grating off the dead dry cracked skin, and emptying the old skin make me want to barf. But the results are amazing. Do try it.

Up Up and Away

2009-04-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

My girls are growing up. Mina has made the big leap out of her crib. She began climbing out of it, with Abby's instruction, of course. Although it was quite a fun game for her, it meant the taking away of the crib, the last piece of bona fide baby furniture we have around. Sniff. So now Mina and Abby share not only a bedroom, but also a bed. They snuggle up together in Auntie Nunu's old double sized bed, and it is the cutest most heart warming thing to see my 2 little girls cuddled up amongst no fewer than 37 stuffies. I was a little worried about how this new arrangement would work out, but after a few late nights of the 2 of them playing and being very silly until 2 hours past bedtime, they are settling in well.

Abby choose to get a hair cut. She wanted shorter hair, just below her ears, with bangs. All that hard work to grow them out for 18 months, and she wanted bangs. So even though I really really did not want her to have bangs, I remembered what it was like when I was little and was absolutley not permitted to bring a pair of scissors near my hair, and forced to emulate Laura Ingalls. So now Abby has bangs and short hair and is still very beautiful. And I feel good because I made a good mother choice and let Abby choose her own hair style. I hope it makes up for my not so stellar moments this week...

Random Tuesday thoughts.

2009-03-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have a grey hair. At first it just had a weird texture, but even with Paul Mitchell moisturizing shampoo, it did not soften up. It just turned grey. I hope it is a "one of" event. I am not a fan of hair dye, but will try it if this gets out of control.
I like the commemorative Olympic glassware from the gas station. Weird, I know, but for some reason I get really excited about the winter Olympics, and next year they are in Canada! Very exciting. Time for the deeply buried hockey fan in me to come out and cheer for my country. I think it weirds Keith out a bit when I become a sports fan every 6 years. And I admit that I like watching figure skaters fall down.
When I was in grade 12, I ate a lot of m&m's. Usually in Mrs. Walstrom's Social 30 class. But after opening each package, I would chart how many of each colour were in each bag. By the end of the year, I could pretty accurately predict what would be in each bag. I made pie charts about it too. (DORK!!) I wish I still had the data.

Been Awhile...

2009-03-19T11:45:00.001-07:00

Once again, it has been a while. All is well here, in the N household. Here are some tidbits about what our family is up too.

Abby: Loves to watch infomercials. She is very convinced that we need the Turbojam, Snuggie, Rapid Wave oven, and Oxyclean. She will bring up these, and other, products in conversation. "If we had Oxyclean, maybe that stain would have come out mom." "Did you know that the Snuggies comes with 2 free booklights, and you can get it in 3 different colours? It is a good deal if we order it now, and not wait! Then it would be more expensive".

Mina: Loves Abby's things. The moment Ab's bus rolls away for school, Mina heads over the their room, I hear her dragging the step stool over to the dresser, and she plays quietly. Then she comes out with armfuls of Abbys "specials". Snowglobes, paper umbrellas, seashells, horses. She treats them with a quiet reverence and it is so cute, that I, as a younger sibling myself, cannot help but allow her to do it. And she always puts things back before Abby gets home.

Keith: His wacky boss is coming back from India, where he has been at a spiritual healing retreat for the past month. Who knows what the return may mean, hopefully the experience has calmed his inner demons. Or whatever new agey term you are supposed to call them. Perhaps he will start eating cooked food again. Or he might just get some stronger crystals to hang in the windows of the office.

Me: Keith bought me a Crohn's cookbook. It is so validating. It says things like: Do not use whole wheat flour when you are unwell. When trying to gain weight, use butter instead. Try adding chocolate syrup for added calories. Recipes are tagged as" higher fat choice", "low fibre", "high protein" and so on. It is really quite interesting to see all of the foods that I cannot eat right there on a list - it made me feel like I am not imagining all of this, and there is good reason that I don't like those foods.

I have also realized that I really do not like my job. It is not the location, which is a bit far, or the employer, who is a passive agressive meanie a lot of the time, or the hours that keep me up way too late. It has more to do with the fact that is is not interesting, challenging or fun in any way. It is boring. I have been doing it for way too long. I cannot wait to be back in school, learning and doing new and interesting things.

And so it is February

2009-02-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

Ahh, February. The coldest month of the year, so it seems. We are all so tired of winter. What am I doing in this climate anyway? Why aren't I living somewhere warmer, closer to a sister or 2? I judge how cold it is by how hard it is to open and close the door, and whether the deadbolt will actually turn. I spend 20 minutes getting me and the girls dressed so that we can go and wait for the bus for 3 minutes. I am afraid to roll down my car window at the drive thru in case the plastic handle snaps. We eat cheese and crackers for dinner because it is just to cold to make the trip for groceries. It has been -20 degrees for the last 3 weeks, which admittedly is better than the -30 it was before that, but I am tired of being cold, and even though my long johns are a gift from God, I am tired of wearing them! Even my eyelids are now plagued with dry flaky skin. Gross. The only bright spot is that it will be my birthday, and I will have an excuse to make a cake! On which I will remember to place candles for Mom and Bunn Bunn, the far away members of the February club.

In other news, the kids are doing well. Abby is in the "learn to read" program in kindergarten, and is finding it too easy. She rolls her eyes when it is time to do home reading, and reads the books upside down to try and challenge herself. Lucking student confrence night is tonight, so hopefully we can convince the teacher to send home better books for her.

Mina talks so well now, in full and well put together sentences. She likes to tell stories about things that she has seen or done. Like the dog who was sniffing another dogs poop at the bus stop, or when she was playing with Uncle Dan and bumped her head on the fan. She also likes to identify people, and strangers by whether they are boys or girls, and if they have have a penis or a "gina". So cute... I think.

Well, I am braving the trip to the grocery store, where I will procure supplies. I am trying PW's-friend's parmesan chicken this week. It looks so good!

My "calling"

2009-01-18T14:31:00.000-08:00

My job, or "calling" at church is as a primary teacher. I love it. I teach 4 yr olds, and they are very sweet and wonderful. It is so neat to get to know other people's children. But, some things about it bug me. I have one little guy, let's call him "Jimmy". He's a bit different than the others. He does not like to clap his hands when the others do, he likes to sit under his chair sometimes. He is the kind of kid that might get medicated, if a public school teacher has her way. The kind of kid who I was warned about: "Good luck with Jimmy this year, he can be a handful". "So, how are you going to deal with Jimmy this year?" Well I'll tell you. If Jimmy does not want to clap his hands, colour the picture or sit on TOP of his chair, that is fine with me! Let Jimmy do what he wants to! He is fine under his chair, not clapping along. He is happy and comfortable there. Jimmy is sweet and adorable, and he enjoys coming to my class and I am happy to have him here. He is much easier to have in class than "Jack", who is a spoiled know it all, talks out of turn, and always wants to be first. And Jack, claps to ALL the songs.

And as a side note, the most disgusting thing I have seen in a long time is the microphone in the primary room. It's mesh covering is filled with bits of food and drippy saliva. If I ever have to speak into that microphone, I just might throw up.

Welcome

2009-01-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome to little Georgia Ann. She is my newest niece and I can't wait to meet her, of course. However, the whole having a baby thing (not only me, but other people too), just gets me so worked up. How am I ever going to be an effective midwife or LD nurse when I melt into tears and gratitude everytime I read a birth story, see pictures of a new mom, dad and baby, let alone getting to be there as part of that incredible journey? My face will forever be red and puffy, you know how it gets when I cry. Like it is right now, because I just read Georgia's story, and even though I heard about it firsthand already, I sit here crying. Abby just asked me "Mom, are you thinking about new babies again?" Sometimes she catches me sitting on the couch watching those birth TV shows with a box of kleenex in hand. I only do it on very early mornings, when Keith is at work (heaven forbid he see me that way - he might think I want another), and Abby and Mina are still asleep, and I am awake usually because of the cat. So anyway. I am going to have to find some coping mechanisms.

Not a Creature was stirring...

2008-12-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

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.

School Days

2008-12-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

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 musings

2008-11-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

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!

Alberta Joins the Brave New World!

2008-10-17T06:33:00.000-07:00

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!

I admit it.

2008-09-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

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.

At a Loss!

2008-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

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.

This 'n That

2008-07-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

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!

Changes...

2008-07-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

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!

The Latest

2008-05-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

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...

The Happiest Place on Earth

2008-05-04T14:17:00.001-07:00

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.

Because I don't post enough pictures...

2008-04-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Pictures

2008-03-22T13:40:00.001-07:00

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.

Funny

2008-03-01T09:06:00.001-08:00

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

About my Job

2008-02-29T08:53:00.000-08:00

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!

What Have I Been Up To, You Ask?

2008-02-10T18:35:00.000-08:00

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.

My Incredible Husband

2008-02-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

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.

Tagged

2008-01-28T05:57:00.000-08:00

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.

January 8 random samplings

2008-01-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

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.

One more sleep!

2007-12-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

Only one more sleep, and then it is Christmas holidays! I am really excited for Christmas. It seems like the magic only lasts a few years - until grade 1 or so, when other kids ruin it for everyone. So I am really trying to enjoy and notice how magical it is for Abby, and Mina too. Every morning, the first thing Abby does is the advent calendar, and of course counts the remaining days. She has her letter for Santa memorized, and wraps up little presents for people all day, with kleenex and tape. She also loves to hear the baby Jesus story before bed, she says it gives her a good sleep. Right now she is more excited for "Auntie" day, the day we get to see Nunu. Abby is kind of upset that I did not put a picture of Nawana on our Christmas card, and she also thinks Auntie's last name is the same as ours. Abby also dreams of her every night, riding a white horse together. Mina likes to toddle up to the tree, oohing, and goes up to the baby's 1st Christmas pictures of her and Abby, and she likes to take the Christmas Fish off of the tree and play with him. It is fun.

Just a note about the Christmas card I sent out, you will notice there is no letter to go along with it. That is because I was too tired and grumpy that week to say anything positive. It has been a good year, I think, but really it has gone by in a blurry haze due to lack of sleep, and I do not really remember the highlights very well. Each time I started writing the letter, it degenerated very quickly into "I wish everyone would just go away and let me sleep." I am trying to be more positive now though, and I am hoping that this holiday season I can at least have a nap. Maybe 2 of them, if I have been good this year. Then I might feel better.

This and that, incoherent ramblings of today....

2007-12-02T19:57:00.001-08:00

Well, since I went through the trouble to sign in and post a comment on nunu's blog, I might as well post here too. I do not really have anything specific to say, so here are my random thoughts.

It is very cold here now! Like 20 below 0 for a high during the day. brrr. I sewed Mina's mittens on to her snowsuit, and she ripped out the stitching! That little weiner. I guess I should not have just basted them on...
Abby and Mina both have eye infections, and I have to torture them 4 times daily with eye drops, and it is not much fun.
There is no Midwifery school in Alberta! So, it seems likely that in 4 or 5 years, we will be moving to BC or Ontario. Unless things change in this province. We are so backwards here, in the "richest" province in Canada. I might become a lobbyist in the meantime, while I am upgrading and saving $.
Christmas is coming! I arranged a cookie exchange at work and everyone signed up to participate! (except for M the grinch, who doesn't really like me, so is spurning the cookie exchange) I am unreasonably excited about this, and change my mind 3 times a day about what kind of cookie I am going to wow everyone with. I also arranged a festive pizza lunch, to which I am bringing dessert, and Donna caught my merry spirit and is arranging a gift exchange. Ho ho ho!
Mina walks now! She can go about 10 steps, when she is motivated, like when she sees someone else's church bag and wants to root through it, in search of food. Then she will sit there, quietly, eating someone else's apple.
Abby can count to 100! She is often muttering under her breath, and when you ask her what she said, she gets mad at you for interupting, and she has to start counting again.

When I Grow Up

2007-11-10T09:19:00.001-08:00

I have always known that career wise, and education wise, I want to do more than Dental Assisting. For a long time though, like the past 12 years or so, I have struggled with figuring out what that something was. I have always been very envious of my sisters, who all seemed to be able to figure that question out very early in life, while I sat by, taking dental assistimg really only because it was only 1 year long, so if I hated it, it would not be a big loss. Turns out, I do enjoy my job, and it has served me well for the past 9 years. (holy cow, that is a long time!) For a while I thought that I wanted to be a nurse. But after being in the hospital a couple of times, and seeing what a nurse's job is like, and what our healthcare system here is really like, I realized that I do not want to be doing that. So that was the end of that dream. But the past couple of years, I have had this secret ambition. At first it was just a passing thought, I did not really believe I could do it. I would read books about it all the time, and imagine and dream that it was me, but I never said anything about it, because it was like this secret idea I had... But I got brave, I said it out loud, and it made me so excited. I have an info session to attend at the end of the month to find out if I can train for it in Alberta, but I could also go to BC or Ontario for it - for a 4 yr program at university. So my new 5 year plan is to do some major upgrading, as the programs are super competitive, and to save money. A lot of money.... Then, when my kids are both in elementary school, I am going to school to become a MIDWIFE! I am so so so excited about this, and it feels so right!

We Miss Auntie

2007-10-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

Sigh, beloved Auntie, sister and nanny NuNu has been away for a week now. We sure miss her! I miss having so many stylish pairs of shoes on my shoe rack - and they almost fit me, so I could pretend they were mine and that I knew something about fashion. I miss all of her shopping bags, she would come home after being at the mall and give us fashion shows of all the things she found that day. I miss coming home to a fresh batch of cookies. Nunu would wake up, promptly at 2, and start baking up a storm. And she always shared. Now, I have to start baking cookies regularly again, because there is nothing as depressing as an empty cookie jar. I miss hearing the giggles from when Abby would crawl into bed with Nunu and pretend to be a bear in a cave under the blankets. I miss being able to say "go see what Auntie is doing" when Abby was driving me crazy and needed something to do while I made dinner. Abby misses her too, and really loves sleeping in Nawana's old bed. She says that she dreams of Auntie sleeping there too. She misses the walks to Starbucks to get strawberry frappuccino's on a nice day. Keith misses reading fashion magazines, well, so do I. Mina misses impromptu piano concerts - Nawana would play very complicated songs, and Mina and Abby would dance around the living room. It was so cute.

We hope things are going well in Mississauga, and that your ugly nurse shoes are at least very comfortable. We love you Nunu!

Disneyland!

2007-10-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

We are back! We had such a fun and relaxing time at the Happiest Place on Earth! (Which to Keith was the one and only smoking section in Tomorrowland.) So after taking a car, 2 airplanes and a bus, we arrived at the wrong hotel. So "Judy" called for a golf cart to come and pick us up, and what appeared, but a fancy schmancy Cadillac - a sign of things to come. Abby asked if she had to take her shoes off in it, it was so nice. The Grand hotel was so amazing and beautiful. I miss sleeping in the bed, having a newspaper delivered in the morning, and the double vanity and cozy robes that we wore to the pool. It was really high class, nothing like the KOA Disney holidays of childhood. Not a can of Chunky soup in sight! Just nice ladies asking us if we needed turn down service (I had to ask what that was. It involved fluffy pillows and chocolate. Two of my favourite things!) For me the hotel was really the highlight. I may plan all future vacations based on if we can afford a top hotel.

Our first morning there, we went to California Adventure, which was all decked out for Halloween with candy corn growing on the palm trees. Abby LOVED Soaring over California, and was making a joke later about "walking over California", ha ha. Keith, mom and I did the big rollercoaster, (which we could see from our balcony!) and Abby went on the carousel too. Then it was time for lunch at Ariels Grotto. Holy moley. Princesses galore. Abby had the Christmas morning look on her face for the entire event, and I got all teary seeing her so excited. Then we went to Disneyland, where I made the mistake of taking Abby on Snow Whites Scary Adventure (not reading the sign before going into it.) It was very scary. Abby would only go on outdoor rides that were not scary, loud or dark after that. So we spent lots of time at Dumbo, Tea Cups, and the Carousel. Although we did get her to go on Pirates then next day, which she says she liked, even though she was complaining about how wet her Belle dress was, and hiding her eyes the whole time... Her big highlight was the Princess Vanity Faire, where she got 1 on 1 time with 3 princesses - for 1/2 an hour! She brought a picture of them that she had drawn, and got to show them and chat and dance with them. She did have a bit of trouble explaining to Pocahantas why she was not included in the drawing... It was so cute to see her in that princess dress, having such a magical time. She also really liked the parade and the Jungle Cruise. Keith and I loved Space Mountain, which I think is my fav "fast" disney ride.

We had such a fun time! It was relaxing and happy and fun! Our pics are not digital this time, but I will try and post some after I get the negs scanned and put on CD. Thank you dad and mom for taking us on this really great holiday, and for all of the magic that Abby got to experience! We are planning to go again at Christmas time, when the girls are a few years older, I am going to save me pennies so that we can stay at the Grand again!

A few things Tuesday

2007-09-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

Betina's Thursday posts are really fun to read, so I am going to try and post weekly too, even if is is just random goings on. So here we go.

On Sunday, during Sacrament meeting, just after the water prayer, the bishop gets up and tells us all that there is a bomb in the building and we have to evacuate. He is Chinese and has quite an accent, so it took us all a while to figure out what he was talking about. Quite the adventure. Turns out it was only a prank call, and the police traced it and have a suspect, who will be charged. The Primary presentation was supposed to be that day, so they are going to do it on fast sunday instead, in place of testimony meeting. Maybe they just do not want to hear everyone bearing their testimonies about the bomb...

Abby likes to play with Mina. When Mina is not in the mood, Abby will set a trail of food on the floor to make Mina come to where she wants her to play. She keeps a bowl of dry cheerios in her room for this purpose. It is her "Mina bait".

I am back at work now, it is going fine. My boss is really happy to have me back, which is nice to know. Mina hates being away from me, and it makes me feel so guilty, I really hope that she gets used to things soon. I am stressed about it...

My Bathroom

2007-09-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

One day, in my dream house, I will have my own bathroom. One that no one else is ever allowed to use. It will have:

A heated ceramic floor, so that there are never drops of water to step in
A heated towel rack too.
A double shower with seats for shaving my legs without having to balance like a flamingo.
Glass block window so that the neighbors cannot see inside when I am showering at night. Because the window film you buy at the store just does not do the job, apparantly.
A bidet, which I think every crohnie should have.
A built in window seat, so that i can just hang out in there and read when I need to get away. Also so I can just in there when I am sick.
A telephone so that I can talk to my sisters. For some reason, one of us is usually in the bathroom when we chat.
A really big cabinet where I can store many varieties of floss.
No bath toys.
A huge jetted tub, so that if I ever get pregnant again, which is not likely, I can have my baby at home. Or one of my sisters can come over and have a baby in my tub.
A cabinet with special lights for sterilizing my toothbrush.

I think that is it. I have discovered that I really want my own bathroom. Even Keith would not be able to use it, although he really quite pleasant to share a bathroom with, I just want my own. Maybe I would set up my sewing machine in there too.

Letter to my Kids Dayhome

2007-09-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Nicole.

Well it is almost that time for me to go back to work! While I am happy to be back, I am also sad to leave little Mina. (Abby I am not sad about, because she loves you already!) So when I drop her off, I am going to just drop them off and run away so that I do not cry in front of them. So I thought I'd send you an e mail of all the things I would normally tell you that morning, if I wasn't running off like that.

Naps: Mina usually takes 2 naps in the day. One around 9 am , for 1 - 2 hours, and another around 2:30, again for 1 - 2 hours. I put her down tired, but awake. Sometimes she does not cry at all, sometimes she cries for about 10 minutes. Please don't let her go longer than 15 minutes (though it rarely comes to that). If you vary the time to suit your schedule better, that is okay, that is just what works for her here at home. I have no idea how she will do with other kids in the room. Do you have a crib/playpen for her?
Food: Mina is still nursing, but she can go the day without it. (we have done a few test runs). She does eat a variety of solid foods, so I know that she will not go hungry. She also drinks water from a sippy cup, but still needs help with it. Do you have a high chair? I will get a list of the foods she can eat for you. She still has not tried everything, so I would appreciate if you did not introduce new things to her. I can provide her food for you, if that would be easier or helpful. That is no problem at all, just let me know. Do you have a high chair?
Development: Mina can sit up, crawl, pull up to standing and walk along furniture. She can also crawl up (but not down) stairs and makes a bee line for them whenever she gets the chance. She knows the sign for "more". When she learns more signs, I will let you know.
Pets: So far Mina has been afraid of dogs. I am sure she will get used to Playful, but just so you know, the 3 she has met so far scare her...
Personality: Mina is a happy kid. She adores Abby. When she is tired she will pull her hair and turn her ankles in circles, and yawn, of course. She gets startled easily by loud sudden noises and cries. She likes to clap her hands and play peek a boo, and she really likes dolls, and banging 2 things together.

Please e mail or call me if you have any questions about her. I will e mail you if I think of anything else. You are probably think that I am acting like a neurotic mother. I can't help it...

Serinda

End of Summer

2007-09-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

Well, summer is over. It is September long weekend already! We had a really fun summer this year. We went on 2 weekend camping trips, and got to see much of the fam on one of them, and we also got to go to Calgary and visit the zoo. I renovated the front entry, and we got started on the kitchen this week. Right now I am sanding down window frames to get ready for a fresh coat of paint to go with the new windows that are being installed next week. We had lots of fun playdates at the splash park, and Abby learned to ride her bike! Summer went by so quickly. It is almost time for me to go back to work, part time, which is mostly a good thing, although I will worry about Mina until she adjusts to her dayhome. Of course she will do fine, but it is my job to worry about my kids. I am excited about going back to work because I will have something of mine back. I will get to be alone, when I am driving there! It sounds really selfish to say so, but I really miss having a few minutes to myself. And I will get to chat with grown ups. After being around little people for almost a year, I just need some grown up space. I am so lucky to have a boss who I like, who is a family guy and allows me the flexibility to work only the hours I need to.

Things I want to Always Remember about my kids

2007-07-31T08:46:00.001-07:00

Abby's imaginary friend "Spider". She uses her fingers to make him, and he plays with us all the time. I have a spider too "Big Spider" and hers is "Little Spider".
Abby's favourite cuddle buddy Ghost, and her red striped vegetable blanket. Note to self, never go away without it! Many tears are shed, right Patience?
Abby's rats nest after she wakes up.
The sad little drawings and letters that Abby delivers to me when she is angry or sad.
Mina's trilling sound that she loves to make. It is like a rolling R. I have no idea how she does it. Maybe because she only has front teeth?
Mina's birth. Wow.
The way Mina hits her chest when she is excited. Like a gorilla, it is so cute, but she ends up with odd bruises, especially when she does it while holding something hard.

Those are just a few. Now I must go and play pirates. Arr.

A little Update

2007-07-30T07:18:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

Here are some things that have been going on in the humble home of ours.

Mina can stand in her crib! She is growing up, I must shed a tear.
Mina LOVES Abby's princess couch. She climbs up onto it, and ooh's and aah's four like 15 minutes while touching the faces of the princess's. She also has the same reaction to dolls. Definately a girl!
Abby put on a pair of plain white underwear the other day. She usually chooses princess ones, but it was laundry day. So, she puts these white ones on, and walks around pretending to be Mummy! "Look, I am Mummy. I have boring panties." Well, guess who is going shopping for exciting panties this week?? I can't believe I have become the boring pantie person. Needless to say, I am embasassed.
I have tiled our front entry! It looks beautiful! I am going to paint this week. I love doing this stuff! All of the HGTV I watch is really paying off! And, I found this store near my house called the "ReStore" where builders donate extra stuff, and I buy it for really cheap. So awesome. I learned to use a manual tile cutter (there is a trick to it! Good thing I bought extra tiles!)
Keith has built another computer. Now we have the main one, which is super duper high tech, I have no idea about it's credentials, but Keith says it is top notch, also a "file storage" computer, set up in the laundry room, and a "media centre" under the TV. I am rolling my eyes. Keith is sure that I will show some WAF as soon as I figure it all out. (WAF: Wife Approval Factor among the techie computer people.) I am happy for him.

Pictures - Finally

2007-07-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

I would post more but Blogger is going very slowwww right now.

Hot!!!

2007-07-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

It is soooo hot here. It has been above 30 degrees all week and I am about to die. I hate the heat anyway, and this is just too much. We have been hiding in the basement all day, except for when we went to the air conditioned mall. We would have stayed there all day, but Mina needed her nap, and we ran out of loonies for the rides, and Abby kept on finding things that she just MUST have, like golden shoes, flip flops, a beaded purse, and a garden hoe. I was about to buy her the new camoing chair, but then she had a bit of a tantrum, so home to the oven we went. I was tired of saying NO. It makes me feel like a meanie. Did I mention how much I hate the heat? I would rather have 30 below zero, at least then I could warm up in the house. There is nothing I can do to cool down. Our window AC unit fell out of the window last summer and broke. That was a very sad sad day. Woe is me.

This weekend we are going camping! We are going to a lake with lots of trees, so it should be cooler than staying home would be. If it cools down we are going to go berry picking too. Also we need to try out the new tent we bought. I have a few new camping recipes we are excited to try too, like boil-a-bag omlettes and some kebabs. It will be nice to have a weekend away. I hope Mina does alright.

I have so many pics to post, of Abby's awesome birthday party and horse ride, but Keith is in the middle of building his new computer right now, and the photo stuff is not installed yet. I promise I will do a whole blog of pics as soon as I can.

New Car!

2007-06-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

We bought a new car!!! I am so excited! We were going to get used, and be sensible and practical about it, but the interest rates were just so good on the new ones. We bought a 2007 Toyota Corolla. It is black and shiny and beautiful. I am so happy to have a reliable car, I do not have to worry about highway driving anymore (as you know, I had irrational fears ever since my transmission blew up at 120 km/hr. Which was pretty darn scarry!!) We cleared out a place in the garage for it, I can just see the hooligans down the street vandalising it for fun, just because it is new and shiny and not theirs. So, if you know anyone who needs a car, we are selling the old toyota...

Wednesdays notes

2007-06-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

This morning someone broke into my car. Well, my dad's car actually, which he has been kind enough to let us use this summer. Stupid little teenage theives are so annoying. They broke the window, and stole the registration. They did not steal several prescription pads, which my dad uses as scrap paper and leaves everywhere, or the chequebook that was in the glove compartment. They did however empty a bag of salted peanuts (Abby's emergency car snack) all over the car. And it looked like they heapedbroken glass into the carseats. What annoying little destructive disrespectful brats.

Mina is moving around like crazy. The other day I left her on the living room floor, and went and did something in the kitchen. Then I hear her distressed squeal, so I go to find her. She was completely stuck under the couch. I could not find her right away and got rather worried. This morning I had her in bed with us while we were sleeping. I woke up and she was nursing, upside down. It was really funny.

On a totally unrelated note, would you send you child to French or Spanish kindergarten? Pros for French: It is our national second language, and if she likes it, and continues with it, she could do some really cool exchange programs in highschool, and also be eligible for plum government jobs when she grows up. Pros for Spanish: she and Eden could go travelling to Spanish speaking places together, knowing Spanish is more unique and has a better "cool" factor than knowing French, and she already knows a fair bit thanks to Dora and Diego. I have a year to decide...

On Sunday, Abby's sunday school lesson was about tasting and smelling. They always draw a picture to go with the lesson. So my dear daughter drew a picture of an orange noodle aka: KD. I felt like such a trailer mom. Now everyone knows I feed my children crap. And they love it enough to draw a special picture about being thankful to be able to smell and taste orange noodles.

In Response to Eve's Posts

2007-05-22T06:58:00.001-07:00

I was reading Eve's blogs, and I am very sad that no one would be her hair model. It would be so nice to all live in the same place, at least until Eve is done hair school. Then she would have 6 models at her disposal. Maybe we should all plan our California visits around her test dates. The thing about having so many siblings is that growing up, there was really no need to make and keep friends. We did not need to, because we had our sisters and bro. Now that I am all grown up though, I feel that I am socially stunted because of this. I think that I did not develop the usual social skills that most other people seem to come by easily. A girl at church asked us over for dinner, and really, I am terrified. That is so wierd. She is perfectly nice, and I have no reason to be intimidated by a dinner invitation.

In other news, well, happenings... Mina is rolling over really well. She can sure get around! She also has been diagnosed with a flat head, and may need to wear a helmet. She has an appointment on the 20 of June to see what we should do about it. It is funny though, if she is fussing and crying, Abby will say "don't be sad Mina, your head is only a little bit flat." She has been crying a lot these days, I think her teeth are coming through soon.

Abby and I have planted a garden! I am really excited about it. It will be so cool to grow Mina's first foods! We planted peas, carrots, beans, spinach and potatos. Also some corn at Abby's request. I still need to plant the squash and zucchini, I just need to find a space big enough. Abby has also requested to go for a horse ride for her number 4 birthday. You would think this is an easy wish to grant, but I am having a heck of a time setting this up! I have one more place to call today, I really hope it works out.

I have been feeling like I am ready to go back to work... I am just not cut out to be at home 24/7. It is driving me crazy! I love my kids, but I am loosing my sanity. I need some grown ups around. No wonder my mother is crazy.

missing out

2007-05-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

I am a bit sad that I am missing out on this weekend's California fest. I did briefly consider going, but I would have had to bring Mina. And, babies just would not hold up to Eve's rigorous scheduling. In fact, I have a hard time with Eve's rigorous scheduling. Maybe it is because I am a crohnie and am severly anaemic, but I just do not seem to have the energy that my sisters have. It is really hard to keep up with their adventures. I have no idea how they do it. I do hope that you all have fun though!

The junkfood thing

2007-04-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

I had said that I would join my sister in the no junkfood on weekdays idea. Well, that will not work for me, because if I do that, then on Sunday night I will eat: 1 hotdog, 1 family size fruit and nut bar and 2 bowls of sherbert - oh and a coke. All because I know that it will be another week until I can have yummy things again. The thing is, that is more junk than I would normally eat in a whole week. So I am just going to be mindful about the size of the junky portions that I want. I never believed in denying oneself pleasure anyway. What an awful way to live.

In family news, Mina has started eating rice cereal, and loves it! She has also discovered her toes. Very cute. Abby really misses her cousins, and wants to go back. I fit into my old jeans, even after Sunday's binge! So, no reason to be crazy and deny myself the occasional coke. Sheesh. that is just not me. And it is officially spring time. Raking the grass yesterday (which is dead, so I thought it would be safe) brought on the seasonal allergies that make me spout water from my eyes and nose all day long, uncontrollable sneezing fits and other unpleasantries. And as much as I love nursing Mina, I am so excited for next spring, as I will not be nursing then, and can battle nature with many pharmaceuticals.