My bloggy year in review

Walking on a frozen lake, sitting in a hot tub with snowflakes falling in my hair, tobogganing with both girls, a new birdhouse, a baby in utero who has started to really move (!). These are the things I really would like to be posting about but to put up a quality post would mean that my sinuses would have to drain and that hasn't happened in about 3 days. It will all have to wait until I win the battle against this cold. Although I do think posting this photo gives a good taste of our last few days at my dad's:


In the meantime, I'm going to do my annual year in review by posting the first sentence of the first post of each month from the last year.

January: Being the social animals we are, living the high life here in Canada's capital, frequenting all the hippest, coolest parties, rubbing shoulders with Canada's political elite, you KNOW that we had to turn down all kinds of invitations for last night in order to stay home, put the kids to bed and watch a movie.

February: Last night I did something wonderful.

March: When you're a relatively healthy person, you tend to take that for granted.

April: My computer gave up the ghost yesterday.

May: The girls and I spent some time last week, yesterday and today, in partner with another family, putting in a children's garden at our church.

June: I got a call yesterday afternoon from Joan, the property manager of the house we so desperately wanted.

July: It's been an exhausting couple of days but the house is actually starting to come together.

August: Like so many Ottawans, we have a leaking basement.

September: This summer I've been thinking and reading about ways to be more frugal; ways that I can trim our budget (or, hell, even set a budget!) and pay down more debt and increase our savings.

October: To all men who read here: warning, there is going to be period talk and if you don't want to read it, you may want to go elsewhere for a while.

November: I shouldn't in fact suggest Emily is feeling lazy.

December: So, yes, I did say I would post through our 25 Days of Christmas and here we are on Day 2 already and I haven't posted about it.

Happy New Year

I did this little meme last year and it was fun so I'm doing it again to ring in the first day of the year.

Below is the first line of the first post of each month from the last year.

January
As I was glancing over my large cookbook collection just before Christmas, I had one of those moments I occasionally have, an angst moment, when I wish I spent more time in more of my cookbooks.

February
That has to be my most unoriginal post title so far.

March
Tonight John and I are going out.

April
Hope has a little Jerry Seinfeld in her or so I thought.

May
Last night was the second of three birthday parties we have been to or will be to this week.

June
John left very early yesterday morning for his big annual conference "The Learneds."

July
I'm sooooo frustrated!

August
All right, so today is actually The Civic Holiday.

September
And my brain doesn't really move that fast.

October
First off: Beth and Kate are coming tonight!

November
We've been sick around here.

December
First, I can't let the news develop any longer without commenting, knowing as you do what a political junkie I tend to be (although I don't mention it or discuss it here very often).


And what did I learn from this year's exercise?

I really need to work on my opening lines. YAWN!

Taking the easy way out

I'm about to head upstairs to start rolling truffles, icing squares etc before I start cutting and boxing five orders of baking to be delivered to the other end of the city in the middle of a transit strike to a location that is heavily targeted by striking transit workers. So, I'm taking the easy way out of a post.

One hundred things done or undone. Done are in bold.

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped (and never will)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch ~ knitting (with help from Beth and Dawn)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (every summer since I can remember)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (not difficult to achieve when you grew up 20 minutes away)
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language (enough so I could read what it said on the Russian street signs anyway)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted (drawn by one of those Disneyworld chalk artists. Does that count?)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (okay, not the top. We weren't willing to pay the 20 euro but we stood at the bottom for a long time)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (very recent!)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen (sadly, no and I plan to change that)
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (didn't see any)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (fish, does that count?)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Eartha Kit. Kind of B-list)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person (no but I will in the next year or so)
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

Looking back at 2007

I just saw this meme on Dani's site and really like the idea so I'm playing along. If you want to play too, just leave me a comment so I can come and read about your year, too.

Just post the first sentence of the first blog post of each month of 2007. As simple as that.

January: Maybe it isn't a real word, but I use it every year at this time.

February: This morning, before Hope's doctor appointment (nose is on the mend, by the way - or so says my doctor), we made a stop at Mountain Equipment Co-op.

March: I've mentioned before that Emily's current obsession is Curious George.

April: Beth is here!

May: Well, actually, it isn't hell so much as hellish.

June: Yesterday we met my very good friend Marnie, who was my roommate through most of university, and her daughter Molly and all trekked to the St. Jacobs Farmers Market.

July: We're back from a glorious, if rainy, week and a half at the cottage.

August: My ankle swelling reached its peak while we were at the cottage.

September: I took Westley and Hope for a good walk this morning.

October: Today is my and John's eighth anniversary.

November: I'm not quite sure what got into me but when November's issue of Canadian Living arrived, I must have become possessed with either Hallowe'en fever or by Martha Stewart.

December: Today is the first Sunday of Advent.

She tagged me

My bloggy BFF, Shannon, tagged me for a meme that I hadn't heard of before, which convinced me right there that I'd do it (oh, and also, she asked me). I mean, when do you ever really hear of a new meme anymore? Or maybe, and this is more likely, I'm just completely out of the loop.

This is a desktop meme. The bones of it is that Shannon wants to see my desktop and then I'll want to see yours. Now, as usual, I'm supposed to tag five people but at risk of feeling like the kid who can't find anyone to play hide and seek, I'm just sending out an open invitation for you to play along. Here are the rules:

Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. Here’s how you can do a screen capture if you're on a PC (insert a big, wet raspberry here):

1. Go to your desktop and press the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).
2. Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and doing a Paste (CTRL + V). If you wish, you can “edit” the image before saving it.

Here are the instructions for all of you blessed Mac users (who have clearly heard the higher calling, seen the light of day, got your wits about you, well, you get the drift):

1. Press funny symbol on the apple key-shift-3. Your beautiful Mac will automatically save the photo to your desktop. That's it!
   

And now for both PC and Mac users:

1. Post the picture on your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop if you want. You can explain why you prefer such a look or why it is full of icons. Things like that.
2. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a free view of their desktops as well.
3. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants.

People who have already pimped their desktop: Francine of La Place de Cherie Chez FrancineBloggishi Unchained Melody LadyJava’s Lounge Mariuca Revellian Dot Com|Desktop Emila’s Illustrated Blog Spiff, The Spaceman Rolando Brown Baron The Kat House Tales From the Fairy BlogMother Virtually There


Not exactly original, is it? (Check out Shannon's... I think I see me a theme!) I do change it occassionally but it is always the same two faces, maybe in a different location, season and clothes. Always the same smiles. I imagine it will be this way for a long time, if not the rest of my life. I move the icons arround; often I'm putting them in the trash after I've stuck photos on the desktop to upload onto the blog (my one complaint about my Mac is that iPhoto is not at all useful as a file manager). Not much else to say... what say you? Want to play?

Why I do it

Shannon, my dear Fairy Blogmother, tagged me for a meme about why I blog. I'm going to address that in a minute or two. First I want to say something about why I watch hockey and more specifically, playoff hockey because aside from the part of being a fan, I don't really know. I find it inordinately stressful. My blood pressure goes up as soon as the opposing team puts any pressure on my Sens. I'm sure it is unhealthy. And yet I can't not watch. I have to be part of the action, part of the excitement and part of the celebration when they bring it all home. Which you, of course, know they will. For some reason though I'll be in Kitchener when all the partying and hoopla goes down because we all also know they'll be finishing this up in 5, baby.

Okay, on to why I blog. I'm supposed to list five reasons. Here we go:

1. Keeping people in the know. I started to blog to keep my work to a minimum while keeping all my family in the know in regards to Emily and the person I then called #2, now known as Hope. It is still a big reason for why I blog but certainly my motivation has gone well beyond this now.

2. To keep a good record of my moments with these two crazy kids. In the past I've tried to keep a written journal but I never keep it up. I've been much better about the blog and I know that both I and they will be very happy to have this journal one day to look back on.

3. Feeding my creative side. I've always liked to write but I rarely do it for pleasure anymore, until I started to blog. I think I've sloughed off the rust now and I'm starting to feel like I'm doing it fairly well again. Without the blog, I doubt I would be writing much beyond the occasional email.

4. Working things out. I find the blog is a great way for me to work out problems, come to decisions but putting on screen the choices, sides, pros and cons. Sometimes I don't even know my position on something until I start to blog about it. Through my writing comes realizations.

5. The social. When I started this I never expected to actually "meet" people because of my blog. Now there are at least two people who I've never met in person but feel very comfortable calling friends. And I love to hear from they regularly in comments and through the occasional email.

Okay, so I'm not going to tag anyone today, since I pretty much always tag the same people. If you would like to do the meme, please join in and just leave me a comment saying you're doing so.

On the holiday front, I'm pretty damn organized and feeling pretty proud of myself. Now if only I could get Hope to bed so I could concentrate on the hockey game. The girl doesn't sleep for days and then today does a 3.5 hour nap. It seems to have made her rather chipper.

Practically me

My two blog friends, Shannon at Tales from a Fairy Blogmother and Sognatrice at Bleeding Espresso were excellent participants in the interview game. I shied away at first but after Shannon threw her hat in the ring, I knew I had to participate. So, Shannon sent me the questions and I, typically, sat on them for a week or so because I had to chew them over and oh yeah, because I'm lazy. Anyway, on with the interview:

1. What's your one guilty pleasure or your guiltiest if you have multiple ones?
Since I received the questions a few days ago (blogging has been taking a backseat to the garden lately), this one has played a starring role as I mulled over possible answers. And do you know what conclusion I have come to? I am possibly the most boring person I know. I have no current vices or guilty pleasures! I don't watch any reality t.v., I don't read teen magazines or watch B movies, I don't even eat bad snacks (too often). I used to watch Coronation Street every night but even that, my most famous and consistent of guilty pleasures, has been abandoned. I asked John what he thought. Sometimes the person closest to you has a more objective perspective (read: no blinders on). He quickly responded that chai lattes are my Achilles heal. He is right if I was answering this a month or so ago but since I stopped spending money, my chai latte/red tea latte/anything latte has come to an abrupt halt. Sigh. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm open to suggestions for finding a new vice. Clearly I need one.

2. What's one thing you do with your kids that before you had kids you swore you'd never do?
Easy. Lick my finger and clean their faces. Total yuck! I swore I would never do that to my kids after enduring years of it from my mother. And yet, I stand beside the car with nary a wet wipe in sight and in goes the finger and onto Emily's ketchup covered face. What does she say? Thanks, Mummy!

3. You've moved around a bit, which place do you miss the most?
I have two answers. I miss Peterborough because of the place we lived. We lived right on the Otonabee River. There were otters playing right off our lawn, herons visiting daily, bullfrogs lulled us to sleep. It was where I fell in love with gardening and also where I firmed up my desire to live in the country with more than a postage stamp lot. The other place I miss is Kitchener because some of our closest friends and best memories were made there. We'd really like to move back there.

4. What type of vacation is more appealing, camping or a luxury resort?
Ooh, tough one. I'd have to say camping simply because I love it and John hates it and therefore I rarely do it anymore so it seems unattainable and something I would have to do whenever I am given the chance.

5. You've won a shopping spree at a store of your choice, which do you choose?
This question also took a lot of thought: would it be a garden store, hardware, furniture, does a travel agency count? But I settled for what I need right now. I would choose L.L. Bean. I know, the clothes there are rather "mom" as Beth recently pointed out to me. But you know what? I am a mom. And I need practical clothes that are comfy and have at least a bit of style. I'm sitting here right now wearing the one pair of shorts that fit me comfortably (I'm working on it!) and a t-shirt I bought in Russia in 1997. Clearly, I'm in need of some clothes and would love to go nuts in L.L. Bean. And you wonder why I have no vices? Practicality all the way, baby.

Want to join the fun? Here are the rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions (make sure to leave your email address in your comment). I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with your answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

7 things about me

Today is my birthday. I'm 35 today.

A few days ago Sognatrice tagged me for a meme. This one is called the 7 things meme and these are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names.

Okay, so I'm getting tired of coming up with people to tag and I end up re-tagging people who have already been tagged for the same meme (sorry, Michelle!). So, I'm not doing that part. If you want to play, please feel free and just let me know in the comments and then I will link to your blog.

Since I'm 35 today, I've decided to divide my number of years by 7 and list one thing about each of the 5-year divisions I end up with. What luck that 35 is divisible by 7!

0-5 years old: My favourite piece of clothing was a pair of orange overalls with Winnie the Pooh on them. I wore them in my kindergarten class photo. I think I wore them a lot. I loved Winnie the Pooh when I was little. I still have my oversized stuffed Pooh; Emily plays with him now. I still get Pooh gifts for my kids based on the fact that I was a bit of a fan when I was tiny. Some things you just can't shake. I never owned the stories though. Go figure.

5-10 years old: In grade 1 I was spanked by my teacher for talking too much in class (not exactly surprising). As my older cousins had been asking me every time they saw me if I'd been spanked by my teacher yet (knowing that she was a spanker), I was rather proud of it. I came home and told my mum, thinking she would think it was funny. Turns out, no. I distinctly remember her telling me: If you get spanked again, you'll get a spanking from me, too! As an aside, I LOVED my grade 1 teacher and continued to do so after the spanking.

10-15 years old: I got my ears pierced for my 13th birthday. My mum had originally told me I had to be 16 (she was a bit strict about these kinds of things). I begged and pleaded and she conceded for my 13th birthday. Now, I never wear earrings. Although I have 3 piercings in 1 ear and 1 in the other. Kind of screams 1988.

15 -20 years old: I got a tattoo when I was 19 with my friend, Holly, from university. I recently reconnected with her and we reminisced about the tattoos. We both still have them and neither of us regret it. We did it before the "tat" craze hit so it seemed edgy. Now we're just like everyone else.

20-25 years old: When I was 24, I got a gig doing a Dove soap commercial. It was Dove's first foray into the "real users" campaign. It's a bit of a long story but in the end it was just me mountain biking (a passion of mine at the time and one I sorely miss), and I made about $7,000 which helped pay for part of my graduate school fees that year and paid my way to Russia and backpacking through Europe with one of my closest friends. Oh, and I got to keep the Donna Karan suit. Too bad it doesn't fit anymore. I really need to get back on that mountain bike.

25-30 years old: I married John when I was 27. My mum was also married at 27 and when I was younger I thought that sounded so old for "marrying age." I swore I would be younger (I have no idea why I cared about that - I think it was from all my friends' parents being younger than that when they got married). I'm so glad that I was in my late twenties. My mum was glad, too. More maturity, more life experience, and lots of time to explore my independence.

30-35 years old: In these last 5 years, two things have happened to me that have fundamentally changed me: my mum dying and John and I having kids. My mum died when Emily was only 6 months old. Emily's first six months were clouded over with my mum's terrible illness and her impending death. That experience, and her absence, has changed the way I think about things, decisions I make, the way I am as a partner and parent. Having my girls has changed the way I think about life as a whole.

Tagged.... twice

I've been tagged by my two closest blogger friends. First, Sognatrice at Bleeding Espresso tagged me for a "seven things about me" meme and then Shan tagged me for the 4 meme. With no slight to Sognatrice, I'm doing Shan's first because I need more time to thing about the previous one and with a bad head cold, my brain filled with thoughts about what to do next year, and our trip to Boston (that is happening, damn it!), that takes extra time.

Four jobs I've had.
1. Camp counsellor
2. Teen director at a summer resort
3. Costumed museum interpreter
4. Government lacky

Four Movies I can watch over and over again.
1. Princess Bride
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. When Harry Met Sally
4. Back to the Future

Four places I have lived (oh, where to start - we've moved A LOT).
1. Copper Cliff, Ontario.
2. Fonthill, Ontario
3. Sherwood Park, Alberta.
4. Peterborough, Ontario.

Four television shows I love to watch.
1. Veronica Mars
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. The Office
4. Coronation Street

Four places I have been on vacation.
1. Dominican Republic
2. New York City
3. St. Petersburg, Russia
4. Vancouver

Four of my favourite dishes.
1. Pad Thai
2. Thai Green Curry Chicken
3. Squash soup
4. Maklubbi

Four Websites I visit daily.
1. True Mom Confessions
2. Tales from a Fairy Blogmother
3. Bleeding Espresso
4. Nose in Ear

Four Places I'd rather be right now.
1. In bed, sleeping.
2. In Austin, visiting my sister.
3. In bed, sleeping.
4. In bed, sleeping.

Four bloggers I am tagging.
1. Beth
2. Julie, because I'm sure she has nothing better to do.
3. Sognatrice. I know she's done this before, but I'm sure she can come up with some new answers.
4. Chantal - who doesn't know that I read her blog, but I'm tagging her anyway.

Seven songs

I've been tagged! My first ever tag. Sognatrice over at Bleeding Espresso has tagged me to list the seven songs I would listen to if I could only listen to seven songs for the rest of my life. Well, that wasn't the original meme but it is the one she chose to do and I like it. So....

I'll tell you now that these are going to be mostly sentimental favourites. I might give you a different list tomorrow if I had waited to do this then. But, today's today and here is my list:

1. What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. This was my mum's favourite song, it was sung at her funeral and it is the epitaph on her gravestone. I think of her throughout the whole song and when I hear it I am flooded with great memories and as cliche as it sounds, her deep love of life.

2. Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens. Beyond this being a favourite of our high school choir and therefore having some good memories attached to it related to when I was younger, thinner and carefree, I just think it is a beautiful song and I know all the words so I can sing along to the whole thing.

3. The Idiot by Stan Rogers. I pretty much could have picked anything by Stan Rogers and been happy but this is one of his rip-roaring, sing along yet feel deeply sad and joyful at the same time kind of song. I guess you could say that about anything he wrote or sang.

4. Upside Down by Jack Johnston (Curious George Soundtrack) because whenever I hear this I think of wonderful things about Emily and her joie de vivre and the many, many fun moments we have together on a daily basis. Curious George is her favourite character and one of her favourite movies and this soundtrack is her favourite CD.

5. Home for a Rest by Spirit of the West. A cracking tune and it was pretty much guaranteed to be played every night in the pub during university, not to mention in our dorm rooms. Just plain fun but also great nostalgia (again) for a lot of fun times.

6. Beautiful Day by U2. U2 still rocks for John and I. We went to see this concert at Copps Coliseum and it was a great night with a great guy.

7. Lasso the Moon by Art Garfunkel. This song will always remind me of Hope when she was very wee.

Okay, so now I'm supposed to tag seven people but here's the thing, most of the people who read my blog that have outed themselves in comments don't blog themselves. So, I will tag Beth, Julie and Marty (because they need a diversion right now), Undercover Angel and all you lurkers. I know you are out there - Seattle, London, Portugal, Plano TX.... I can see you so speak up! If you choose to play along, and I hope you all do, please leave me a comment letting me know.