New Sod!!!!

Have you every seen anything more glorious?  I thought not.

Unimpressed?  Well up until this afternoon our backyard looked like this:

And for the longest time it looked like this:

And we spent the better part of the day doing this:

Now are you impressed?  Well here's that picture again so you can gaze fondly at our masterpiece:

Unfortunately, gazing fondly is all we can do with our new yard at the moment.  It must be watered religiously and not walked on for four weeks!  Gah!

BTW:  We took this opportunity to bury a time capsule. I'd tell you what's in it, but that's between me, my family and the citizens future.

William the Scholar

My son is awesome at building with lego, and playing video games.  He has the uncanny ability to say the most insightful things, and hold his own in discussions of life and death, evolution, astronomy and the possibility of extra terrestrial life.  However, he is notorious for his unwillingness to put crayon to paper.  While his sister colours on every available surface, William has only recently (and only occasionally) let go of his perfectionist tendancies long enough to attempt a happy face or racecar (the latter often followed by the remark "This is not actually a very good racecar. Can you do it?") .

So a couple of days ago when I bought a kindergarten printing book at the dollar store, I had very low expectations.  I showed it to him, but I didn't even suggest we try it.  Imagine my surprise then, when today I saw this:

He got out a marker and started filling out the book all by himself.  He did most of the capital letters and then went on to the small letters, at which point he declared "I'm not very good at the small letters."  I told him he was doing fabulously, but his standards for himself are much higher than the standards of others.  He takes after me that way.


And yes, he is left-handed.  How cool is that?

Downhill is not always faster

Today William wanted to mail a postcard to his friend.  After I had printed out the address, William made a few half-hearted marks on the paper then asked me to put on a movie. I wasn't about to waste a stamp on his short attention span so I encouraged him to draw some more.  He traced his hotwheels car. "Can we watch the movie now?"

In hindsight, I should have just put on his choice of DVD, ignoring the sunshine outside and hoping I wouldn't lose his creation before the next time I happened by a mailbox. Instead I insisted we mail the card, immediately.  I offered him the choice of riding his bicycle, or sitting in the stroller hitched to my bicycle.  "I want to ride my bicycle," Jadzia immediately chimed in and William agreed.  The nearest mailbox that I know of is about a kilometre away.

The way there is uphill.  My son insists on getting off his bike and pushing it up every slight incline.  Every time William gets off his bike, Jadzia gets off her tricycle and bolts.  She gleefully sprints down the sidewalk at speeds greater than any Mom lugging a fully-loaded diaper bag and a tricycle can achieve.  Other legitimate reasons for dismounting: picking dandelions, watching ants.  William also stops dead at each slightly elevated crack in the sidewalk and groans until I help him over it.

We stop at the library after we mail the postcard. This is William's idea. I have my netbook with me and try to write, but instead end up reading the most inane boardbooks imaginable for slightly longer than I can stand. After we pick out our books I give each kid an apple, more to lighten my load than because they are hungry. As we cross the library parking lot, the plastic bag holding my books breaks.

William roars (yes, roars) at each bird we pass, scaring them onto the rooftops. Jadzia joins in by belting out screams that are ear-piercing, blood-curdling and whatever other cliche you can think of to describe an unbearably high-pitched squeal.


William doesn't want to go to fast on the downhill so he compensates by braking every two feet. Jadzia is tired and drags her feet along the ground as I push her tricycle.  I tell her she will wreck her shoes and hurt her feet if she continues.  She continues.  I threaten to take her shoes.  She continues.  I take her shoes. She doesn't care.  She steers the trike in a zigzag pattern on the sidewalk. I tilt the tricycle onto its back wheels so she can no longer steer.  She attempts to get off the trike.  I carry her (along with the diaper bag, netbook, Jadzia's sandals and six library books in a broken grocery bag). 

Yes, that's chocolate cake.



While William and Adam went off camping at the cayuga dragstrip, I offer proof that Jadzia and I had much more fun.  We attended a lovely party for my friend Natalie, mother of two of my daughter's handsome suitors (including the icing monster pictured above).  We picniced on the grounds of Dundurn Castle, then took a tour of the lavish mansion.

Jadzia's favourite phrase of the day: "I want to go that way!" She would then dash off in the opposite direction of the tour, ducking under any rope barriers that were in her way. She wanted to go downstairs when we were upstairs and upstairs when we were downstairs.

Dundurn Castle is significantly larger than my house, even though it was a family of four who lived there.  As the gentleman in 1850s attire lead us around, I felt a bit envious of the previous inhabitants.  I have a family of four.  I should therefore have an 18,000 square foot mansion with twelve servants, and a view of the lake, and cannons.  But then I remembered that they didn't have television or internet access.  I would trade all those servants and that big old mansion to be living here in the information age.  It's also pretty cool having cholera-free water.

Anyway, I really must use the magical powers of the internet to figure out how to make olden times sour dough bread.  The stuff they made there was hella good.

The end is near.

Well I finally did it.  I asked Lil' Monkeys staff for their WiFi password.  I finished today's wordcount and I wanted to message my husband to see if he would be late.  I just wanted to know if I had to rush home to make dinner.  Now I have opened a pandoras box that can never be closed.  Pretty soon, I'll be getting the WiFi passwords for all the play places, and then my writing productivity will take a dive.  I'll be facebooking, blogging, and online gaming instead of working on the great sci fi novel that would have one day made me a gazillion dollars. 

On the plus side, this means you, my blog readers, will probably be hearing more from me.  If any of you happen to have a gazillion dollars, please click the donate button in the side bar and share it with me.  Or give me the whole thing.  The world is ending on Saturday anyway.

Renewed love

I love Karaoke.  Love it.  Before the offspring I used to play a lot of Karaoke Revolution, a wickedly awesome video game that scores you as you sing.  Once in a while, when the moon was full, I even got my Karaoke-hating husband to sing a duet with me.  In recent years, however, I've mainly played games that either don't require reading (so they can be played with kids) or are very quiet (so they can be played after bedtime).  As you might have guessed, this game is neither.

Well tonight I had some friends over, and I roped them into playing my karaoke games with me.  Apparently, the version of Karaoke Revolution I have is for GameCube, which just goes to show you how long it's been since I've played it.  So anyway, we had to play SingStar instead, similar but inferior to Karaoke Revolution.  Despite the limited song selection, and incomprehensible scoring system, we had a blast playing the game.  Even the kids were grabbing the mic and singing.  They couldn't care less that they couldn't read the lyrics and just enjoyed the sound of their own voices.

So now I have a renewed love for Karaoke video games, so I need to stock up.  I need to download more songs for my SingStar, and maybe look for a newer version of Karaoke Revolution.  Yes, that's right, I said 'need', not want, NEED. 

I went to the zoo today.

I went to the zoo today.

Here is a video of a peacock dancing for a peahen:

Here is a picture of my family on the zoomobile:

Here's a picture of my daughter flashing a zebra:

The end.

When I have fun, I get tired

So on Thursday my inlaws came over.  I made lasagna and banana bread.  After enjoying the delicious meal and my mother-in-law raving about the banana bread, we all walked to the park together (the kids biked) because it was perfect weather to be outside.  It was a very pleasant evening, and afterwards I was very tired.

On Friday was our five-year-old friend Annaliese's birthday party.  We went to Amazing Adventures, a play centre complete with a bouncy castle, free-to-play arcade games, pink Harleys, and an intricate network of plastic tubeslides, all within a surprisingly confined area.   I of course had to try the slides and the bouncy castle in the name of supervising young ones. There were several birthday parties going on at once and I'm pretty sure there were some fire codes violated.  We had an amazing time.  Afterwards I was very very tired.

On Saturday we drove to Etobicoke to visit the Fantasy Fair for my friend Columbia's birthday.  We rode all the rides, many of them twice.  My favourite were the bumper cars, which are especially fun with friends. We also spent a fair amount of time chasing our kids through a giant play structure, vaguely reminiscent of the one we had spent hours in the day before.  After one last ride on the Fantasy Fair Express, we went out to dinner even though it was past the kids bedtime.  We ate cake.  It was a fabulous day. Afterwards I was exhausted.

On Sunday, which was Mother's Day, my husband and kids made me a wonderful card and an odd breakfast in bed.  Then we hitched up the trailer and biked all the way to Bronte Creek, a distance of 9.8 km (one way) and had a picnic.  The kids played in the park and in the play barn, and then we visited all the animals including a litter of piglets.  It was the best day ever.  Afterwards I was extremely exhausted.

On Monday, I was still in biking mode, so I biked with the kids down to Central Library, a distance of 7.3 km, (one way).  We met some friends there and William went to story hour.  We picked some books and the kids went on the computer. After some convincing by the Mommies we lured our offspring outside and played in the park a while.  Then I biked home, uphill, and (after a quick stop at home to grab some birthday presents) continued biking to my Mom's house.  We celebrated my Dad and my nephew's birthdays (which were actually on Saturday).  We ate pulled pork, potato pancakes, mashed potatoes and cake.  It was an awesome day.  Afterwards I was extremely exhausted (and a little sunburned). 

Today I'm trying to keep it low key and not have so much fun.  Of course I've already played Star Wars Lego with William on the Xbox and looked through the Halloween I Spy book we got from the library.  I also put Jadzia down for a nap because she threw my ipod accross the room.  I was going to catch up on some laundry today, my dryer is in pieces.  It wasn't drying so my husband is fixing it using the magic of internet knowledge.  Instead of watching youtube videos, or playing plants vs zombies, I've decided to take a moment to tell you how my week is going.

Done.  Now what should I make for dinner?

Jadzia's accomplishments

Yesterday, while we were at the Early Years Centre, my daughter coloured this picture:

This is a fine example of how Jadzia's artistic skill far exceeds the norm for a child of two and a half.  See how she chose appropriate colours for the flowers and stem, and kept those colours to the right general area! The real joy is to see the concentration on her face as she creates.  She would never choose a marker at random, and instead takes the utmost care with every colour selection.

And that's not all!  Jadzia is in full potty-training mode (she has trained me to give her an M&M every time she pees on the toilet).  After Jadzia had completed her masterpiece at the Early Years, we went next door to Ikea for a little lunch and some fun.  While we were in the front entrance of the store, Jadzia exclaimed "I go potty now!"  then immediately dropped her pants, showing a naked bottom half to amused furniture shoppers.  My friend Columbia, who had been watching Jadzia while I wrote on my netbook, quickly grabbed her and rushed her to the nearest toilet.  Since my daughter had peed on the toilet only minutes before, my expectations were low.  Miraculously, she pooed on the toilet!  I gave her two M&M's.

 

The Party that really deserves my vote

For those of you who are disappointed in the election results, here's some photos of the party that really deserves a majority.  I'm talking of course about my friend Columbia's outdoor fairy party which took place on Saturday.  There were fairy costumes, face painting, swords, an Easter egg hunt, potluck food and a giant Earth ball.  Just look at how much fun we are had:

Vote

If you haven't already, go and

VOTE

Here's some info to help you:

The English language section of the Bloc Quebecois website
The Conservative Party website
The Green Party website
The Liberal Party website
The NDP website

Elections Canada website
CBC election coverage

Please don't leave it in the hands of others to decide who gets to run this country.  I guarantee that they will not vote the way you or I would.  If you are over 18 and live in Canada, get your butt to a polling station now. 

Making Grocery Shopping a Game

I've been vaguely aware of my local supermarket's policy of price matching.  Basically you bring in somebody else's flyer, they give you somebody else's sale price. I've tried it a couple time, on a few small items, but today I went all out.

The hardest part of the grocery price-match game is actually having the flyers. The store won't accept printouts of the online version (I've tried) and most of the time the newpaper is recycled/lost/destroyed by a mischievous young princess. Also the paper seems to alternate between the useful food flyers, and the not so useful clothing and electronics flyers.  But today, against all odds I had all the grocery store flyers, on a day that I actually wanted to go shopping.  As I wrote my shopping list on my iPod, I meticulously examined the sales flyers of six different super market, noting the best deals in each one.

Then, armed with a stack of coloured newsprint, I drove to the store and filled my cart.  My son added a few non-sale items to the stack, but almost everything else was on sale somewhere out there.

While my two offspring wandered about the candy machines, a manager rang in my purchases (it had to be a manager because underlings do not have the authority to price match).  This is where I should have been more organized.  All my groceries were mixed up together and it wasn't always easy to remember which sale was at which story.  Next time, I'll dedicate a special bag for each of the fliers separating the foods by which store has each on sale.  Brilliant, right? 

Not exactly extreme couponing.  I'm not evern sure if I've saved any money in this ridiculous endeavour, but I the important thing is that I feel like I've beat the system.  I win!

I give up

Caught red handed with a tube of toothpaste in our bedroom.  Adam's side of the bed now smells minty fresh.

My New Toy

In light of the conflict between my two (highly lucrative) careers of writing and motherhood; my extra sexy husband purchased me a netbook so my writing can be more portable.  My new toy is pink, small enough to fit in my diaper bag, and supposedly lasts ten hours on battery power.  I took it to Little Goobers today, and read all my writers' group files while the offspring were somewhat occupied.  Of course I had to race both children down the slide twice, rescue Jadzia from the treefort, serve snacks and lunch, extract my daughter from the exersaucer, and do up William's pants after a trip to the washroom.  I never did get to my own writing, so time will tell if this little machine will solve all my problems.  Now all I need is an agent, a publisher, a maid, and a nanny.

Baby-proofing fail

Days after Adam installed a baby-proof lock on the bathroom cupboard, Jadzia defeated said lock, dumped the cupboard's contents onto the bathroom floor and decorated several walls with mascara.  What she's holding in the above pic isn't the mascara, but another lid she found that won't mark anything.  I let her keep that.  Let her think she's won.  (Because she did).

Voting For Candidates Based on Looks 2011

*Disclaimer: this is meant as a bit of fun.  You should probably not actually base your vote on how the party leader looks.

So I watched the leadership debate last night after an exhausting trip to Great Wolf Lodge.  The candidates gathered in a circular set, awkwardly coloured in oranges, greys and blacks, and bickered relentlessly offering little of substance.  Many a media organization is racing to offer you, the voter, an in depth analysis of the exchange, but only here will you get a guide to voting for the candidates based on their looks.

Gilles Duceppe.  I may not agree with all his separatist ideals, and I can't vote for him anyway, but I have to admire this guy's sense of style.  His tie print featured either butterflies or flowers, wonderfully complimenting his pinstripe suit.  Compared to the other fellas drab ensembles, Gilles came across positively flamboyant. Perhaps this is a Quebecois thing?  Of course, as always his pointed ears and piercing eyes make him look like a vampire (not Edward Cullen or Bella Lugosi, more like Nosferatu).

Stephen Harper.  In the first voting based on looks post, I compared Steve to an aging ken doll.  I suspect he is actually an android.  His hair never moves and skin is unblemished and shiny, particularly his lips.  Also his hand gestures remind me of the animatronics at Disneyland.  The debate began with a one-on-one exchange between Nosferatu and the robot.  Pointless, yes.  Hilarious, mildly.

Jack Layton.  What a trooper this guy is!  He has cancer, has lost a bunch of weight and is walking with a cane.  Not only does he not let it get him down, but he actually made a joke about it, saying how he would have to lend Harper his crutch to stay in power.  Zinga!  Did anyone else notice that Jack's skin is the exact same orange as the set backdrop?

Micheal Ignatieff.  I think he's gotten greyer since he took over the liberal party.  Maybe this was on purpose, because for some reason it makes him look friendlier.  He's trying really hard not to seem like a slimey car salesman and I give him props for that. He's also the only leader who wore a tie that matched his party's colours and the one with the bushiest eyebrows.  When Jack and Mike go at it I keep wanting to yell at them to kiss and make up.  If they joined forces they could do some serious robot butt-kicking!

Elizabeth May.  She wasn't there, and she's hopping mad!

If, for some reason, you need more than just looks to decide on who to vote for, the CBC has this nifty little tool.  You put in your stance on certain issues, and it tells you which party's views are most similar to yours.  It didn't really tell me much that I didn't already know but it makes the decision process into a fun quiz game!  Incidentally, I think I'm probably going to vote Liberal.

Spontaneous Vacation

Yesterday morning my husband announced that he wanted to take the day off and "do something".  So we spontaneously went to Great Wolf Lodge, a hotel with a large indoor waterpark, an arcade, and a woodland creatures theme.

Jadzia, normally an animal lover, was terrified of the animatronic creatures so that every time we even went near the lobby where the moose, bear, and tree were chatting away to noone in particular, she would bury her head in my shoulder (or Adam's) and cling to me (or Adam) with the two-year-old equivalent of a death grip.

We paid extra for a room that had fun bunkbeds made to resemble a tent in the woods (one that was being raided by a family of cartoon bears).  I don't think the extra money was worth it.  For one thing, I banged my knee getting out of the bunk bed and now have an ouchy bruise.  Also William didn't want to sleep on the top bunk, and ended up on the pull out couch. 

We spent the majority of our time divided between the waterpark and the arcade.  I have absolutely no pictures of the waterpark, because of water's reputation for destroying electronic devices, but it was a sight to behold.  All kinds of water buckets, and spraying things atop a ridiculous metal climbing structure vaguely made to resemble wood.  We spent a lot of time hanging out around the four kiddie slides. Jadzia was too short to go on them, despite her insistance on walking on her tiptoes.  William slid like a pro, listening to the lifeguards far better than he ever listens to me.

Adam and I took turns riding the "grown-up slides" while the other supervised the offspring.  Canada Vortex was the best, the slide lets you out in a giant funnel and you never know just when you're going to get out of it.  The first time, I slid out backwards.  Some of the slides needed more than one person to ride, so I cornered a random mom and her daughter and rode with them.  The girl, about nine, said "I haven't screamed once".  Well, then you didn't have as much fun as me!   

The photo above is obviously from the arcade, where we spent a ludicrous amount of money on tokens.  William wanted to play every game involving a gun, while Jadzia's faves were the mall-style rides.  Jadzia was also quite proficient at Wack-a-Shark, and this peculiar game where you catch ping pong balls in a popcorn bucket.  Most of our tickets were earned in a machine which drops a ball into a slot at the push of a button.  We ended up with about 2000 tickets to spend on dinky toys.  This translated into a bouncy ball and a stuffed dragon for Jadzia, an airplane and a grenade for William (yes, I said grenade, complete with exploding sounds), and assorted candy for the ride home.  Sugar gets a bad rap, but it's so sweet, and comes in so many colours and flavours.  We gorged ourselves on fun dip and nerds.  I know this is not good for me, thought I, (and it isn't even that yummy) but it tastes like childhood.

We got home in time to watch the leadership debate.  So stay tuned for my post on voting for leaders based on looks, which I'll write later when I feel like it.

Changes

Recently:

• The kids brought all the steak knives downstairs and used them to gouge holes in the wall.
• William trashed my parents washroom by decorating it with toothpaste, shaving cream, and shampoo.
• William undoes his seatbelt in the car whenever he's annoyed at us.
• And of course you already know about the ketchup and the yogurt incidences.

This lead to the conclusion that:

• The kids need more attention.
• The kids need more supervision.
• Our house needs to be more kid proof.

And so:

• We've put away the kid's computer and locked out the tv, so that the kids will have only the good kind of play time.  Too often William refuses to go anywhere because he's too busy watching tv or surfing youtube.
• Adam has gone hogwild with baby proofing.  Since our kids aren't babies, this requires a little creativity.  Any lock I can figure out, William can figure out too, so we have to keep things out of his reach (and hope he isn't determined enough to get a chair).
• We've changed William's booster back to a 5-point harness.
• We're going to try and actually pay attention to our kids.

Today was our first test of our changes.  We went to the zoo. So we were having good parent/kid relations, and giving them a fun outting, but we kind of cheated because we didn't have long to deal with the no tv and computer thing.  I dread not having the screens around to "babysit" the offspring when I have writing to do during the week.  Of course, the fact that I'm so dependent on these devices makes me feel like a neglectful parent. (Plus the tv is a lousy babysitter, it did nothing to prevent the knives in the wall).   No longer!  From now on I will play hotwheels tracks and go to the park at least as often as I sit down to write.  All I have to do is get up early, and possibly clone myself.

Best Day Ever

This morning I got up early and finished my daily word count so I wouldn't have to ignore my kids all day to complete it.  I wanted to get the kids out of the house to avoid anymore ketchup or yogurt messes, but the morning sky looked grey.  So I invited my friend Becca over for a playdate instead.  William and Aedan have literally known each other since they were infants and they were very excited to get this opportunity to play.  After a nice chat, lunch, and cuddling of baby Amelia, Becca and family had to be on their way.

Once they had gone, I realized that the grey sky had turned a beautiful blue. So I got William and Jadzia outside on their bikes.  At first William didn't want to go downhill because he was afraid to go too fast (he is my son, after all), but he soon conquered his fear.  He raced down the steepest portion of sidewalk again and again, a proud grin glued on his face.

When the hill became tiresome we biked to the park.  By this time my youngest was getting tired (partly from the excitement and partly because she insists on lifting and dragging her trike instead of using the pedals).  After a short time both whined at my inadequate swing pushing, so I bribed them home with the promise of chocolate chip cookies.

As always, the kids helped me get all the ingredients together and mix them.  For those who are interested, I always use this recipe but modify it based on my mood and what I have in my cupboards.  Today I made the following modifications:  omitted the cocoa, put half brown sugar and half white, added a cup of oatmeal, a cup of chocolate chips, and some coconut. I cooked them for 11 minutes, left them in a turned off oven for 5 minutes, and let them cool on the cookie sheets for 5 more minutes.  Holy Q, they were perfect; melty chocolate chips, soft chewy consistency, subtle coconut taste.

Of course none of this avoided food mess.  I left the cookies on the stove too long and my daughter helped herself.  I was finding half-eaten cookies all over the house for hours afterwards.  Of course I saved them.  Cookies this delicious should not be wasted.

Independence is good. Right?

One of my very few house rules is that food must be eaten at the table.  Food must not be eaten downstairs (with pop corn being an occasional exception).

I think these guidelines are perfectly reasonable, but William finds them the height of unfairness.  "But I'm hungry and I want to watch Treehouse," says he.

Well today I gave the kids some grapes for snack, and the moment I wasn't looking my son carried his plate downstairs.

"Where's your plate?"
"It's already in the sink," William said while attempting to block my view of the basement.  Then, when it was obvious that I could see the plate sitting on the couch: "Jadzia brought it down there."

I told him he could not have anymore grapes because he broke the rule about not eating downstairs and then lied about it.  He was upset for a short while, but then I considered the matter settled.

Later, my son came to me with his face covered in yogurt.
"What's that all over your face?"
"Jadzia just put yogurt on my face."
Apparently my two-year-old daughter had also brought a chair from the dining room to the kitchen, removed an entire package of single serving yogurts, and eaten them/spilled them on the downstairs carpet. 

Right.

Kids are cute.

This past Saturday my beautiful niece turned one, and a celebration was held in her honour.  These sorts of family gatherings are a collage of special moments.  Here are some of my favourite shots from the event:

Both my Dad and my husband insisted they were "smiling" in this shot.  So why does Jadzia have to frown to blend in?

If she looks guilty it's because this is the forth cupcake that Jadzia has licked the icing off and then left.

My brother is such an adorable Daddy.

"You're funny, William!"  Violet says it all with a point.

In addition to consuming yummy dinner, snacks, and cake, I also managed to capture the next "Star Wars Kid" video.  Sure to go viral!

Educational Opportunities with Gore

After this morning's ketchup incident I decided it was time to get out of the house, so my offspring and I took a walk to the library.  On the way home, two large crows blocked our path.  The birds were so enormous, in fact, that William first identified them as "a dog or a cat".  It looked as though they were enjoying some kind of snack, but at a distance I couldn't tell what it was.  Since we were by a school, I thought it might be someone's recess snack.

The crows flew away as we approached and I realized that the snack was something a little more gruesome.  It was some sort of rodent; a rat, I think, more specifically half a rat.  The hind legs and tail were basically intact, though not much else was.  Intestines were strewn about the the side walk, some bunched up, some stretched out, culminating in an unidentifiable organ that I guess must have been the animal's stomach. 

My immediate instinct was to usher the kids along, but it was too late.  William had seen it and he was fascinated.  We've talked before about how food goes from our stomachs to our intestines before turning into poop, so it was quite the educational opportunity to have that concept illustrated so graphically across the concrete.

"I thought the birds were eating something but they just killed a mouse," said William.
"The mouse was probably already dead," I explained. "Those birds eat dead animals that they find."
"So how did it die?"
"I don't know," said I, racking my brain for a non-scary method of death.  "Maybe a cat killed it.  Or maybe it died of old age."
"Or maybe it was from the olden days and then it died," William added.
"Well, mice and rats don't live that long, only a year or two."
"It was from the olden days, that's probably what happened."
"Probably," I agreed.

The topic was revisited later on in the walk, and we began discussing the animals that humans eat for food.  William already knew that pork came from pigs and beef came from cows.  Now that he'd actually seen an animal being eaten, though, he grasped the concept at a whole new level.  His face held a look of horrid fascination.

Ketchup

On the train table.

In the drawer of of the train trable.

Covering Jadzia's block puzzle.

All over Jadzia and William.

My two-year old can now reach the fridge. Yippee!

Getting My To-Do List Done (Hey, it's exciting to me!)

So I told myself I would blog every day, or at least every other day, except maybe not on the weekend...... Anyway now it's been three days and nothing from me.  Don't worry, I'm okay (although my snowman has melted).

I have been keeping up with my writing goal of 500 (or more) words a day, which is good because I'm on book #2.   This one is set on an alien planet with a matriarchal society.  The lizard-like people have three genders: women , nursemen (who raise the children), and nestmen (who cook, clean, and protect the family).   Also, through the magic of made-up genetics, the story features a human hybrid.  The characters all have to overcome rigid and conflicting gender roles to find their places in society.  It should be a pretty good read once I'm all done.

I got my first rejection from an agent this week.  I'm going to go ahead and call that a good thing too.  She got back to me much faster that I expected and besides, only real writers get rejections. 

Today I also:
Filled and emptied the dishwasher.
Put away some laundry.
Read a lecture for my Defeating Self-Defeating Behaviours course.
Had a Skype meeting with some of my writer friends who are taking the course too.
Sent another query.
Exchanged a recently purchased copy of "UP" at FutureShop (the blu-ray disc was missing).
Bought a few necessities (bread, milk, snacks) at the grocery store.
Cashed some cheques at the bank.
Made some delicious oatmeal, raison, chocolate chip muffins.

BTW:  Nothing to do with anything, but if you haven't seen it yet, the video below is pretty great.  About halfway through I realized the guy is actually singing, not lip-syncing, which makes it all the more awesome.

Snow Man Snow!

My one regret about winter was that there was never any snowman snow.  It was either too cold for the powdery stuff to stick together, or so warm that everything melted and it started to rain.  Well this afternoon I looked out the window and saw the sunshine and the snow, and I thought: could it be?  I opened the side door and grabbed a handful to test.  The snow packed together perfectly in my hands. Huzzah!

So on this beautiful "spring" day, my children and I got all dressed up in our winter duds and headed into the front yard  where we built a snowman.  By "we" I of course mean me and by "snowman" I mean snow toddler, since my creation was about the same height as Jadzia.  Here's a pic that William took to commemorate the occassion:

Snow?

Yesterday was borderline no-jacket weather, so this morning when I opened the blinds an saw everything covered with the fluffy white stuff, I had the same wtf response as I'm sure everyone else did.  I just bought a bike, for Spock's sake.  I've always secretly believed that I could control the weather by preparing myself for the opposite.  Like, when I get around to purchasing hats and mitts, I'm pretty much guaranteed an unseasonably warm winter.  I buy a bike and of course it snows.  I think I'm going to go out and get a raincoat and galoshes.

Not to say I didn't see this as an opportunity.  I immediately wrote "tobogganning" on my to-do list and went with the kids right after breakfast.

I only went down the hill three times.  Once, all by myself because neither of my offspring wanted to go.  Instead, they attempted to navigate the slippery playground equipment wearing snowpants and boots. Eventually William fell and got snow all inside his jacket.  After that he was too cold and we had to go home. But not before Jadzia had herself a wee snack.

New Furnace Day!!!!

If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is probably worth a million.  So here's the longest blog entry I've ever done.

Here's a video blog I recorded with the kids as the furnace gang was finishing up the install:

And here are some before and during shots:



And here's a tour of my house now that I filmed featuring my new furnace and air conditioning system:

So there you have it.  Two million three thousand and eighty-two words, including this sentence.

Best Backyardigans Episode Ever

It's about time this catchy musical children's show did a Star Trek spoof.  In this episode, Tasha, Austin and Uniqua are intergallactive garbage collectors flying around in an Enterprise-like ship made of  two trash cans and a trashlid.  On the way, they battle "Moosicans", basically Klingons with Moose antlers (played by Pablo and Tyrone).  If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a taste:

I think I might make that song my new theme music.  And here's a diddy from the Moosicans:

See what I mean?  This show is made of awesome.

New bike!

I have hereby thwarted criminal attempts to keep me off the sidewalks by purchasing a gorgeous 7-speed berry-coloured bicycle.  The kids rode trikes around the store while I chose.  It had to be pretty, yet strong enough to pull a giant stroller. I even got some pink and white tassles for extra girliness.

We had lunch at the Mandarin across the parking lot from the bike store, then it was time for my bike's maiden voyage (because the thing wasn't going to fit in a car full of kids).  Anyway the ride was fabulous, smooth and easy to pedal.  Brant Street is still a killer, but even though I haven't biked since November, I barely broke a sweat.  (Though that could be because it's still a little cold out).  Thank goodness I had a buffet lunch to give me energy!

Keep my hand-me-down teal bike, Hooligans!  If you want this one, you will have to brave the obstacle course that is my backyard.  I will not leave it out front. At least, not right away.



No Snakes in Ireland; No Phone at Jen's House

It all started yesterday when I called Chapters. We left a toy there and I wanted to see if they had found it. Only they couldn't hear me. "What? You want a monster truck book?" Several calls to several different people revealed that either a) I had turned into a robot, or b) there was something wrong with my connection.

Then the internet started acting buggy. Pages were slow to upload, then stopped loading all together. Skype was impossible. The only thing that seemed to work was texting, so I spent the better part of yesterday and today troubleshooting the problem with my overworked husband. By "troubleshooting" I mean I complained relentlessly while he answered with the occassional "OK".

I don't make a great many calls during the day, but knowing I couldn't sent me into a frenzy. Just as I was thinking "What if something happened? I can't call 911!" William ran into the room with his face covered in blood.  It was only a cut lip, and as usual my son refused all forms of first aid.  He also claimed he "didn't know" what happened.  Jadzia also has a small cut on her chin.  I've tried to puzzle out in my head what event could've caused both injuries without success.  Things happen when kids don't have computer games to play.

Adam has been working late the last couple days, so I've skipped my usual elaborate dinner meals in favor of quick snacks that the kids actually eat.  Yesterday I made Zoodles and today I made "pizza" (which in this context means ketchup and melted cheese on a tortilla).  Adam called Cogeco on his cellphone when he got home yesterday at ten pm.  They are sending a technician tomorrow between 8:30 am and 5 pm.  They call this an appointment, but everyone else knows that appointment times are more specific.  Listing ones office hours is not the same thing as scheduling an appointment.

Today I fiddled with wires until I managed to get my internet running, but the phone wouldn't even pretend to work for most of the day.  Then as I was grating cheese onto a ketchuppy tortilla, the phone startled me by ringing.  It was a robot from Cogeco confirming our "appointment".  Now Adam gave Cogeco his cell phone number, clearly telling the service rep that our phone DOES NOT WORK, and yet the robot called the home phone.  Luckily, I didn't have to say anything to respond to the automated message, I just pressed 1.  Humans still can't understand me, but robots don't seem to have any trouble.

Cogeco loves to brag about its awards for customer service.  I'm thinking they must have bribed the judges with free cable.  I'm not going to hold my breath on the technician either (and not just because I can't hold my breath for eight and a half hours). Once when I didn't answer the buzzer quick enough, they left us without phone and internet for a month.

Now the kids are in bed and my husband is still not home and chatting at friends on the phone is impossible.  I wish I was out celebrating the lack of snakes in Ireland.

For the Love of Sugar

Today my friend Cara and I enjoyed the maple syrup festival at Bronte Creek.  We ate maple sugar candies, maple toffee and pancakes with maple syrup.  In case that wasn't enough sugar, William drank the leftover maple syrup.  Yum!

William's favourite part of the day was the tractor ride to and from the pancake house.  That, and playing with his friend Leyla, who he's still excited to hang out with even after all these years. Jadzia enjoyed climbing the bleachers and wandering as far as she could away from the grown-ups.  Also the pigs.

Below is a shot of William hanging the sap bucket during the educational portion of the trip. Leyla drilled the hole; they make an excellent team.

William does Magic

Today was camp day at Ikea.  My friend Columbia and I enjoyed a magic show, free lunch, and face painting.  The kids had fun too!

Both William and his friend Zoe, got to be assistants for the magician.  Zoe helped with a card trick and William did this:

Afterwards, William tried to replicate the trick by squishing a tiny stuffed animal in his fist.  When it didn't work, he concluded that the trick had to be done with "magic things."

If you're curious what the kids' facepaint is supposed to represent, William is obviously Spiderman, Zoe is a rainbow kitty, and Jadzia is a duck.  The last one was my fault.  I suggested several animals to her, but once she heard "duck" she was stuck on it.  The clown who did the make-up said it was the first duck she had ever done.  Jadzia was delighted to quack quack around the store, almost making up for the fact that she is too young for the Ikea ballroom.

When we go to Ikea, we spend a ridiculously long time.  The food is cheap and the kids are entertained, so the only real reason to leave is that it's time to go home and make dinner.

William is a Heavy Sleeper

At first we tried to discourage Jadzia from climbing on and playing with her unconscious brother, but it soon became clear that he wasn't waking up for anything.

I managed to catch this on video before my card ran out of memory:

  Reminds me of this video from last year:



"Just do a summary of the day"

My husband has decided that I should do a blog post every day like Natalie and I have been neglecting my blog of late, so I'm going to try.  So my to-do list will now include:

editing my book
querying that book to agents and/or publishers
outlining the next book
looking after the offspring
doing some minor household chores (only enough to ensure that everyone is fed and clothed)
and...wait for it...writing a blog post every day

So a summary of the day:

First the furnace guy (whose name is Terry) came over and crunched some numbers and got us to sign stuff.  Highly exciting.

Next we decided to see a movie with the kids.  Rango was out, and it isn't every day that there's a flick appropriate for the kids is in theatres.  Not that I'd say that Rango was completely appropriate, but they weren't bored.  You've probably seen the preview, Johnny Depp is a chameleon who winds up in the desert in a western town populated by various desert creatures, lots of gun fighting and stuff you'd expect from a western along with some stuff you'd never expect like a lizard with breasts and hair.  It was a good movie, with spectacularly detailed animation.  William says his favourite part was "all the guns."  My favourite part was the rattlesnake who had a gun built into his tail.

I lost the battle for popcorn soon after we arrived at the theatre, we had just had lunch and I thought snacks weren't necessary, but it became immediately obvious that both kids were going to freak out otherwise.  William also whined that the movie wasn't 3D. Who are these spoiled children?

Anyway, when we got home Morty the Jackapoo went crazy as usual and I felt sort of guilty that I hadn't walked him for a few days.  William screamed halfway to the park.  First because he didn't want to go and then because I wouldn't put his mittens on him (he fought me when I tried).  I can never get him to do any anger-coping deep-breathing techniques they teach us at the Early Years, but they help me all right.  When we finally got to the playground, both kids had fun playing on the swings and stomping around in the icy muck.  Although poor Jadzia fell in the frigid water at least three times.  Finally her pants were so soaked we had to go home.

Then Adam organized the crawlspace in preparation for the upcoming furnacing, while I made a dinner consisting of shrimp, green beans, and leftover spaghetti.  The kids went to bed early, it being daylight savings time and all, and I read the end of the book I was reading, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, which I'm going to go ahead and recommend.  It's a steam punk, which I'm normally not that into, but it has strong characters, particularly female characters, and it has zombies (but not cheesey zombies) and is generally a fun read.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have just enough time before bed to watch an episode or two of the Big Bang Theory.

The Great Furnace Search

When we moved in 3 years ago, I noticed a service sticker on the large metal box in the basement which was dated 1978.  It still works, but I have to assume that there have been some advances in heating and cooling since Trudeau was prime minister.  For this and other reasons too boring to get into, Adam and I have decided to upgrade our furnace and air conditioner.

So anyway, we had four companies come in to do an estimate.  That means four different people came into our home, looked at our furnace, pitched, told us that we had to act quickly to take advantage of government rebates, and left.  Noone seemed excessively slimey, or gave us wildly exorbitant prices.

I started to write a more detailed account of each visit, but the result was too tedious for words.  I sucked too much of our time on this endeavour, and I don't want to waste yours.   One would say that their products were the best, and another would say that all furnaces are the same and it's the installation that matters.  One would talk more about warranties and another would blather on about how long they'd been in business. 

In the end it was between two companies that we got a good feeling about (but who really knows). Anyway, they seemed like upstanding citizens and they both sold furnaces with fancy controls.  So we got them in and forced them to fight to the death.  It was hard work setting up the arena in the back yard, what with all the snow and mud.  Also finding a company that sells lirpas wasn't easy, but with such a big purchase we felt it was important to do our due diligence. One of the furnace salesmen injected himself with a trioxide compound to fake his own death.  I don't know why he did that, but it was good for us because nobody really died and there was no need to explain to the cops why there was corpse with a lirpa sticking out of his chest in our backyard. 

Anyway, the victor is coming in at 9 am tomorrow to begin the furnacing process.