What's cooking Wednesday

Wow, it's really been a long time since I've been a true participant in WCW. I wasn't planning on taking a summer hiatus. It just worked out that way. With my trip to Texas under my belt, I really feel that fall is upon us and it is back to our regular routine.

I tried a brand new recipe this week out of one of my newer cookbooks, Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. I've tried a few others out of this book and always to rave reviews. Tonight's recipe rates only a B, maybe a B+. John liked it a lot more than I did. On paper it looked really interesting but failed to wow me as I expected it to. Having said that, if you accidentally end up with two dozen eggs in the fridge after a miscommunication between you and your partner and you are running short of time, this recipe may be just what you are looking for.

Asian-Style Frittata

1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp veggie oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 stalk of broccoli, peeled and diced (I used a whole stalk with the top and just minced it all up)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 medium red or green pepper, finely sliced
4 large eggs
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated fresh ginger root

Sauce:
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sherry or rice wine (I didn't have this so I just didn't put it in. Maybe it would have turned the recipe completely around. Who knows?)
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 green onion, finely chopped
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp cool water

In large skillet on medium heat, saute the onions in the oil for 3 or 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and broccoli and continue to saute for 3 more minutes. Add the mushrooms and peppers. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the soy sauce and ginger. (I must add here that when I added the eggs to the pan in the next step I realized that 4 eggs were definitely not enough so added two more. You may just want to add six eggs at this step and avoid the panic that I had when I was overwhelmed by vegetables and underwhelmed by eggs.)Pour the eggs over the veggies and cook on low heat, covered, until the eggs are set, about 6 minutes.

While the eggs cook, make the suace. In a small saucepan, bring the 1/2 cup water, soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil and green onions to a boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in the cool water and stir into the simmering sauce. Stir until the sauce thickens and then remove it from the heat.

Serve the frittata drizzled with the sauce.

Austin: Final thoughts

The last few days have been a bit of a blur since I've been home, so much so that (you may have noticed) I've barely spent any time here but I have a few posts that I really need to get out: my last day in Austin and things I want to remember from the 10 days there, the weekend at the cottage with the Walsh family just before I left for Texas, Hope's first year and Emily's 3rd year. Three of those posts are getting long in the tooth but I'll get them up anyway, hopefully this week. For now, I'll just reflect on the last day in Austin, my atrocious trip home (actually worse than the trip there) and things I'll remember from my time with Beth, Graeme and Kate.

I did manage to do a good amount of cooking on Wednesday. At the end of the afternoon we met Graeme at the Austin Farmer's Market at The Triangle, very close to Beth and Graeme's house. It was a very cool mix of vendors, decidedly part of the Keep Austin Weird movement. We had some amazing hibiscus iced tea, I bought a few gifts and had a chicken taco - supper was on its way but it was my last chance for a proper taco before returning to The Land That Cannot Produce a Taco to Save Its Life.

That night Beth's friends, Marlene and Will, joined us for our meatball and linguine supper. Hope was in bed early again - she was routinely going to bed between 7 and 7:30.

The next day, after Westley's walk, I started packing and cleaning. Hope had a nap and then it was time to get to the airport with a quick stop at HEB for fresh tortillas to take home with me. I put 60 tortillas in my suitcase. We made pretty good work of one pack already. Can someone please explain to me why no store makes fresh tortillas here? There just isn't a sufficient explanation.

Everything started off well for my trip home. The flight leaving Austin was on time and to top it off I had a Salt Lick brisket sandwich while I was waiting to get on the plane. Everything was going according to plan. Then we approached Chicago and due to bad weather were in a holding pattern for almost an hour before the pilot felt it was dangerous to continue to do so and flew us to Peoria, Illinois to refuel. I have a feeling the Peroira airport doesn't get a lot of action (aside from some military flights). We were the only plane there. The pilot lightened the mood by announcing "we were first for take off." At least it got him a few laughs. We were back in the air and were supposed to have a landing slot. Turns out O'Hare changed its mind again so we circled Peoria for another 40 minutes. Beautiful area, very agricultural, got to know it well.

Finally we started back to Chicago. When we got in landing vicinity we were again put in another holding patter, for another 40 minutes. It was at this point that Hope started to get agitated. She started her intermittent screaming that is her way of entertaining herself when she is annoyed or bored. By this point in the never-ending flight from hell, I had fed her twice, read her every book I had brought - twice, breastfed her, sang her every song she liked - twice, and taken her to the bathroom - twice. So, when the woman in front of me turned around and asked me if there was anything I could do to keep Hope quiet, I was pretty damn close to committing air rage and in fact would have been happy to have been escorted from the aircraft at that point had I not been 20,000 feet or so in the air. My response was controlled but I told the woman with the horrendous hair squishy to shove it in pretty polite terms.

I later heard her ask the attendant for a Tylenol. I stewed and steamed about Hair Squishy the rest of the flight. I couldn't believe she had the nerve to tell me that Hope was screaming in her ear and that it was annoying when she was completely oblivious to the fact that I'd been keeping her from screaming for the previous two hours. Hope did extremely well considering we were in the air a full two and a half hours longer than we should have been, pointed out by a really friendly, non-hair squishy group of Texans deboarding after the whole debacle was over.

When we did finally land at O'Hare it was 7:15. My flight for Ottawa left at 6:00. I got on the next flight for Ottawa which was supposed to leave at 8:55. It was delayed as was everything leaving or coming into The Airport Which Shall Not Be Named. Hope climbed up and down her carseat while I ate really brutal pizza and chatted with a group of Canadians who had flown down to be on The Oprah Show. My flight finally left at 9:55. We landed at 1:00. Again I got flack for not having a letter saying I was allowed to leave the country with Hope on my own. The Canadian Customs Guy was really nice about it, a much different approach than his American counterpart, but he had to go out into the arrivals area and ask John if he had permitted me to leave Canada with Hope. John said Customs Guy seemed embarrassed that he had to do it, like he thought the whole system was ridiculous. You know what? It is. Why would I need a letter to bring Hope back home? Completely fubar.

From now on I'm going to have a letter saying I can accompany Hope just when I leave the house, just in case I run into someone who asks.

I was in bed at 2:00. Emily was in our room around 7:00 and it was an awesome reunion. I snuck up behind her. I'd been feeding Hope. Hope was crying and I heard Emily saying to John: What's that noise? I tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped into my arms. We snuggled in bed and have pretty much replayed that every morning since.

It was a great 10 days in Texas. There are lots of things I'll want to remember when I think back to my time there, in absolutely nonsensical order:

• walking through Beth's humid neighbourhood every morning while Westley explored everyone's yards
• picking up groceries at FreshPlus almost everyday
• jumping off the bed to catch the on-off switch on the ceiling fan/light in my room
• the morning wake-up: Hope would come into bed with me to breastfeed then she would explore the bedroom while I tried to sleep a little longer
• iChatting with Emily and John every night while Hope ate her supper
• Hope beelining it to anyone using a laptop and banging the keyboard
• Hope putting all the laptop cables over her head like clothes and being so proud of herself while she did it
• helping to get Kate to sleep using the Chinese Bum Pat
• Kate swaddled and asleep on the Boppie
• Hope always stealing Kate's blanket
• Hope constantly poking, kissing or touching Kate if Kate was in the vicinity
• how Hope and Westley got really comfortable with each other as the week went on
• Westley finally kissing Hope's nose every time he walked by her
  
• Losing my wallet off the top of the car at REI and the very nice woman, Laura, who returned it
• Hanging out at the Austin Farmers Market, drinking ice tea and watching Hope pour the ice on Kate's head.
• Beth and Hope dancing together at the Austin Farmers Market
• getting really good dark chocolate almost every day
• tea with Beth
• helping Kate have her first bath at home
• Hope's jealousy while I would hold Kate
• watching the Up Series with Graeme at night
• being a mummy with Beth. That's just very cool.
  
• buying a suit with Graeme at Neiman-Marcus that cost more than my first car
• eating granola and yogurt for breakfast every morning
• getting wicked blisters from my new shoes
• Hope emptying Beth's Tupperware drawer daily, sometimes a few times daily
• cleaning out Beth's fridge
• Graeme yelling "HELP" while Kate's poop sprayed all over the diaper change pad
• the possum. Enough said.
• Hope turning Westley into a dog who looked for people food after she fed him yogurt off her spoon
• watching the turtles swim behind The County Line BBQ
• the rain and rain and more rain.
  

It was a great 10 days. I'll think about it often for a very long time.

Having said all that, it's good to be home.

A baby no more

Hope turned 1 today. I can't believe it's been a year. It seems longer than that and yet so much shorter.

Happy birthday my sweet pea. I love you with every inch of my being.


She celebrated as every new toddler should.

Tuesday in Austin

Somewhere along the way I've missed a day or something because based on my previous posts yesterday's event should be titled Austin Day 7 but actually it was my eighth full day here. So we're going to days of the week instead.

Last we heard from our heroine, she had deposited a possum carcass on the side of the road. Unfortunately, the City of Austin completely let me down. By 5:00 the carcass was still sitting there. By 6:00 another animal had dragged it upu the lawn and gutted it. By 6:15 there was a nasty odour and exposed entrails.

By 6:30 Graeme was digging a hole in the back yard.

This morning I did the usual walk with Hope and Westley and then while Hope was napping, I rode Beth's awesome red bike - huge fat tires, no gears, coaster brakes, giant seat - to Central Market for groceries. I'm making some stuff for the freezer today and meatballs for supper tonight.

On with the cooking!

Austin Day 6

I walked a different route through Hyde Park yesterday on my morning walk with Westley and Hope. I'm really getting to know Beth's neighbourhood well, which will be great during future visits. It's nice to feel that everything is familiar and that you can step out the door and be confident that you won't get lost. Of course, having the streets in a grid helps, too.

After Hope's (short) nap yesterday all of us loaded up to go buy a suit for Graeme who has to go to a funeral this week and, turns out, has never owned a suit. He found a great suit, an Armani suit, the most beautiful men's suit I've seen. Let's just say you get what you pay for.

After that, some friends of Beth's, Matt and Heather, brought over a yummy supper. During their visit, Westley tried to run head first through the patio door. I figured he must have seen another possum, Austin's answer to other cities' rats. They are truly vermin with rat-like tails and big furry bodies. They scavenge for anything and this particular one seemed to have been interested in Westley's pig femur that he left in the back yard. I spotted the possum near the back gate. He was shuffling backwards and making weird yakking motions with his mouth. Matt said he was about to play dead, a possum's well-known defence mechanism. He did just that. He keeled over on his back and lay there. I checked back thirty minutes later and he was still laying there. I suggested he was actually dead. Everyone laughed at me and said that I'd been taken in by the possum. Check out the photo and you be the judge. Are you taken in? Do the flies on his face maybe just a little bit make you wonder?

After confirming with the experts that he wouldn't move if I approached him, I took a couple of photos. I noticed a few flies on his mouth. I mentioned it to the crowd inside. Matt said: "Pretty convincing, isn't it?" I still was suspicious that this possum was not playing possum. Really, why would the flies be in on the ruse?

Two and a half hours later Graeme started to see my side of things. He went out to take a look and (against my advice) took Westley with him. Westley beelined it to the possum, shook him around and flung him back on the ground while Graeme was yelling at him to let it go.

Graeme agreed. The possum was dead.

He's still out there this morning and most definitely dead. We have a number of theories on what did him in. I think he choked on something . He was doing that weird backing up, yakking motion. Maybe it was a heart attack when he saw Westley run into the door. Now we're presented with an opportunity as I see it. Late last night Graeme and I were googling Fried Possum. It's amazing how many recipes are out there. Tomorrow is Wednesday after all and I'm on the hunt for a new recipe.

Edited to add: I just called the City to remove Beth's dead possum. I had to carry said possum to the curb. I feel so distinctly Austonian right now and just a little bit Texan.

Austin Day 5

Yesterday we started the as usual - taking Westley for a walk. This time my destination was The Flight Path, a coffee house north of here. The walk took me through the north end of Hyde Park, the area these guys live in. Some of the houses were spectacular but were often next door to some pretty nasty and run-down places. It seemed to be a mix of big money and student housing.

I didn't accomplish much around here yesterday. I was feeling really tired. Beth had a massage in the afternoon and while Hope had her afternoon nap, I visited with Beth's friend Marlene who brought over plum kuchen.

We had had plans to go to Batfest yesterday. According to the website I read it is Austin's largest outdoor festival, which is saying something. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate - it poured rain in the mid-afternoon and then drizzled the rest of the day. We figured most of the vendors and bands had packed up.

We went out for barbecue last night to The County Line. The County Line is known for its beef ribs. It didn't disappoint. The amount of food on our table was obscene. And we only ordered two entrees between the three of us. We didn't come close to finishing it all. Hope was a bit of a nightmare at the restaurant, which is a scary pattern that is starting to emerge. The last three times I've had her in restaurants, she's been pretty awful. She wouldn't eat anything last night and then wanted out of her chair right away. Eventually she played on the floor under our table. After that grew tiresome (after about 5 minutes), I took her outside to look at all the turtles swimming near the restuarant's dock. That was very cool. There had to be 100 turtles back there of all sizes. Eventually more customers came out and started to feed them.

Back at home, Hope refused to go to bed after she peed on her Grobag (her sleeping sack thing). So, while it was being washed, I cleaned Beth's bathroom and Hope played. We both were finally in bed by 10:00. I hope today is better.

Austin Day 4

I took Westley and Hope for a good walk this morning. I decided to put Hope in Beth's Chariot and reduce my sweat a little this morning. I walked over to HEB, a big grocery store here. I picked up a couple of things for Hope and some potatoes for supper.

The rest of the morning was relaxed. I cleaned out Beth and Graeme's fridge, meanwhile Rose has cleaned mine out at home (thanks, Rose!). It's all even steven. After lunch we went to a huge electronics store - Fry's. The place is enormous. I bought two DVDs for Emily - Find Nemo and a Veggie Tales DVD - and The Sound of Music, which I've wanted for a while. With the great exchange rate and the lower prices I definitely came out ahead. I also (finally) replaced my crappy card reader. I'll try it out later.

After Fry's we went to Costco, ate cheap hot dogs and pizza for lunch and then shopped. Graeme got some amazing lamb chops for supper. They were superb.

Hope is now crying in her crib - she is having a really hard time going to sleep tonight, likely because she had a late afternoon nap and also because she is damn stubborn. This is my second attempt to get her to bed. After the first try, we sat down together to talk to John via video through iChat. I've said it before, but Macs just rock. I've talked to him the last 3 nights via iChat and last night I even got to talk to and see Emily. That was so important to me. She's having a hard time right now. Me being away is really having an affect the last two days. I feel terrible for her as well as for John and Rose who are on the receiving end of her anger and saddness. I wouldn't do this differently, I just feel so sad for my girl. I want to hold her and not let go. For a long, long time. I miss her to the depths of my soul. At the same time, I'm so glad I'm here and I'm glad I'm here for a while I just wish it was easier on Emily.

Hope is finally asleep - she cried herself there but it wasn't bad. I'm going to head there soon too. Tomorrow morning I'm going to take Westley and Hope on a walk to a coffee destination. We really don't have any plans after that until evening when we're probably going to go out for barbecue. Serious Texas barbecue. There's nothing like it. I'll probably clean the bathrooms and that will be the extent of our day. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Kate is doing great. She is filling in now around the jaw bone and her arms are starting to look pudgy. She sleeps really well for a newborn. She is lovely to hold and makes all the usual grumpy old man faces while she sleeps in your arms. I love to watch her. Hope loves to poke her. She does it very gently, actually. I'm really surprised how quickly Hope has learned to be gentle with her.

Well, I don't think I have much more energy to type. Looks like I'll try the card reader tomorrow instead. Maybe I'll have some photos to put up too.

'Night all.

Austin Day 3

I started the day off yesterday by taking Westley for a walk. Westley is Beth's dog. He is a cute, flop-eared, skittish fellow. He loves walks. Beth told me that walking Westley in the mornings would help her more than washing her baseboards, which was my original plan. So, Hope and I took Westley on a tour of the neighbourhood. The high humidity here means that a short walk is still a good workout because I sweat so much. When we were just about home I walked by the little park (Shipe Park in the Hyde Park area) that John and I took Emily to a lot two Christmases ago. It made me smile and think about my biggest girl. I really miss her. Hope had a ride on the swings while I commisserated with another mum about the weather and our frizzy hair.

Yesterday afternoon I traded flowers and a vase for my wallet. Yay again to Laura! She was super and I hope the flowers on her desk remind her of what a good person she is. We were then going to walk to Central Market in the late afternoon but Beth needed a rest. That was fine with me too since Hope has been sleeping badly (normally, really) and I was tired.

We had a great meal of fajitas last night. Austin fajitas rule. You actually buy the meat already marinated. The beef looks like crap raw - very grissely and fibrous but when it is barbecued it is lucious and tender and full of flavour. Add to that the freshly made tortilla shells that are sold at pretty much every corner store here. Just awesome.

Our nightly routine, after Hope is asleep, is to watch cool documentaries off the iMac. I tend to watch an episode of Planet Earth in the late afternoon and then we all watch something together after supper. Right now we're watching Seven Up. It is a British documentary that follows a group of children from all backgrounds and interviews them all every seven years starting at age 7. We're loving it so far but we all hate Suzie. She's nasty and racist and just evil.

Hope woke up around 10:00 last night crying and then again every 15 minutes. I reached my limit and told her I was just going to lay there in my bed while she figured it out. You know what? I think she got it because she didn't wake up again until 5:30. Oh sweet sleep, I've missed you so much. You know, when you haven't slept well in almost 4 months, you appreciate 7 uninterupted hours so much more when you finally get them. It's like tasting a fine wine that you might not have again for a long time and really relishing every sip.

This morning I walked to The Upper Crust, Beth and Graeme's favourite bakery to buy cinnamon buns for breakfast. Being that UT has just started up fall classes, they were sold out so I had to settle for pains au chocolats. Not exactly a hardship. Hope rode in the backpack. It is another wickedly humid day - 70%. I sweated on my walk. A LOT. At one point, I touched my arm and figured I had walked under a tree that had been dripping from last night's rainfall. Turns out it was a layer of sweat or moisture from the air or a mixture of both that was all over my skin. It is just so different from Ottawa humidity. I always thought Ottawa was pretty humid. It really doesn't compare to this. Texas is really quite tropical - there are palm trees and cactus growing in all the lawns and gardens. The rainstorms are downpours for 20 minutes. There are two colonies of parrots living here. It is so different and that makes it extra special. Also, it isn't Republican, which makes it extra extra special.

Hope is now sleeping as is Kate. Beth is working on her birth announcement and I'm going to tackle another job shortly. Later we'll walk to Central Market and maybe tonight we'll go see the Austin bats. I'm really looking forward to that.

Here is Kate in all her glory:


And Hope giving Beth a hand in changing Kate's diaper:

Day 1 and 2 in Austin

Yesterday I spent doing just a few little things around Beth's house - I swept up the leaves on the back deck, dug up (more like chipped out) a few of the tiniest potatoes I've ever seen, made some food for Hope, went for a walk with Beth, Kate, Westley and Hope, got Hope used to being here (she was a little out of sorts yesterday). Last night I got to meet Beth's friend and ex-employer Howard and his wife Laura Sue. That was nice.

The mornings are nice and mellow so far. We ease into the day with feeding the kids, email, food, sitting around in our pj's for a while. This morning I took Westley for a walk to the grocery store while Hope slept. You know what? Texas is stinking hot and Austin? Stinking humid. Beth laughed when I said that and told me this wasn't hot or humid. I guess it's like tourists complaining about the cold weather in Ottawa in November.

After lunch we loaded up the wee ones and headed to REI for a bit of shopping. Beth needed to pick up the Chariot stroller attachment and I needed to get some travel mugs for John. Seems odd but he loves the clip handle that just isn't available on Canadian versions. And his last installment was run over after he left it on the roof of our car. This will be a theme you will soon see. Anyway, I bought him two.

We were on our way to our next stop, Beth's chiropractor, when I realized I had left my wallet on the roof of the car. This after totally making fun of John for leaving the keys on the roof of our car last week (the full saga of that mishap will follow in the next few days) and the aforementioned REI mug. We retraced our route back to REI/Book People. I searched around our parking spot and the route we took out of the parking lot. I asked in Book People, REI and Whole Foods. No luck. I felt sick to my stomach. I had $250 in there, birth certificates, health cards, Emily's SIN card, not to even mention my Bridgehead coffee card and my Fabricland stamp card.

I called VISA and put a block on my card. I called TD Bank and asked what I should do. I called and emailed John so he could start dealing with the birth certificates and health cards.

John called me back right at the end of the day to tell me there was a message on our home phone from a woman from Texas who got my phone number from the Ottawa Early Years Centre. She had my wallet. I was to call her. I left a message and will likely see her tomorrow with gifts in hand.

Laura, you rule.

Why airline travel sucks

Yesterday - August 27, 2007 - a day which will live in infamy. Karen and Hope endured a day of travel which was suddenly and undeliberately of the suck-ass variety.

I arrived at the Ottawa airport to find out that my flight was delayed by two hours. Oh well, we would just do a bit of shopping, eat our little dinner and I would let Hope crawl around.

Baggage check. The woman saw something suspiciously like a knife on the scanner when my bag went through. She unpacked part of the bag. Sent the bag through again. Still a knife, or to quote her: "there is definitely a knife in your bag." She was starting to sound agitated. Not as agitated as me, who very well knew there was no knife in my bag. Turns out that Burt's Bees Diaper Ointment looks suspiciously like a knife to this woman. Look for it to be banned fairly soon.

U.S. Customs (which you clear in Ottawa). Did I have a letter notarized by my husband allowing me to travel alone with this child? Um, no. Do I need that? Angry customs agent then decided to let me go through. Apparently the fact that my last name is different from Hope's sends these people into a right state. Never mind the fact that my last name is her second middle name and right there on her damn passport. I suppose his small pea-sized brain wasn't able to process the fact that having the same last name as your child still doesn't preclude you from trying to kidnap them. Just ask that woman in South Carolina. Oh well, at least he was able to unleash his venom on my socialist homeland by suggesting that "maybe you should take your husband's name instead. Gee, what a novel idea!" Seriously. He said that. Seriously, I wanted to beat him with my socialist passport.

Gate. I couldn't find my boarding pass. I had Hope's only. It wasn't an e-ticket so not having my pass was a SERIOUS problem. I looked everywhere. Either it was never issued or it was left behind at the site of the great de-bagging of 2007. And yet somehow Mr. Pickle Up His Ass Customs Agent somehow let me through without it. I guess he was too blinded by my feminist ideals. Woman at gate let me go through anyway because she didn't know what else to do and oh, because I was starting to cry. Just a little. Thought it might sway things my way.

Arrive Chicago with an hour to spare before my connection. Oh, actually 3 hours because the flight to Austin has been delayed until 10:30. I make my way to the gate with all my crap. I set it all down at one point to put Hope in the sling because I'm feeling like an overburdened camel. She squawks a bit causing Mr. Big Fat Cell Phone dude to shoot me a look that could kill. He's lucky my hands were full because otherwise his cellphone would be elbow distance up his ever expanding ass. What's with the low tolerance in the U.S. of babies crying once in a while? And I won't even begin to talk about breastfeeding in public....

Arrive at gate. Turns out flight is delayed to 11:30. This means I have 4 hours to sit in what has to be the crappiest departure gate in O'Hare. You'd think Hope would have lost it. I seriously didn't pull one toy out in 4 hours. She was captivated by the following: a water bottle, the planes landing and filling and luggage moving etc, the people around us, my marble cake from Starbucks, the gate attendants shoes, the pillar with the peeling paint, the chairs, the carpet, herself. She was nothing short of astounding.

Finally get on a plane at 11:20ish. Arrive Austin 1:45 local time.

Damn I'm tired.

Kate is so beautiful though and I'm totally thrilled to be here.

Texas bound

I'm off to Texas in a few hours. I have so much to pull together before I leave the house. I hate feeling rushed and yet, here I am again.

I'll post from Texas to give you the updates. Until I'm back though, have a great 10 days everyone.

Eyes half shut

I don't know what is up with Hope. Three nights ago I was up with her from 2 until 4:30. At 4:30 I finally slept on her floor. It was the only way I could get her to stay asleep. The two nights after that were better. I got to sleep in my own bed.

Last night it happened again. She was up at 11:30, at 1:15, at 3:00, at 4:00. I checked all the usuals and finally figured it must be the three teeth that are about to erupt. I gave her Motrin. At 4:30 after trying everything to get her back to sleep, I climbed in bed ready to let her cry. John went in and slept on her floor until 8:00.

We're driving to the cottage this morning and I wanted to leave by 8:00.

Emily peed in her bed again.

Right now, life could be a bit better.

Feeling frantic

My dad and Donna were visiting the last two days or so. It was a nice distraction. I completely had my head in the sand about getting ready for a big family weekend at the cottage (John's family is all congregating at my family's cottage for a 65th birthday celebration for John's mom - and celebrating Emily and Hope's birthdays, too) and my trip to Texas on Monday. Add to that the fact that we're having friends over for dinner tonight. I know that sounds like incredibly bad planning but I couldn't do it any other night this week and these friends are moving to Virginia next week.

Anywho. I'm feeling a wee bit frantic, even panicked right now. I have A LOT to do. First, I have to get the house tidied. Luckily I did a deep clean a couple of days ago so now I just have to mop the main floor and clean the bathrooms on the top floor. I'll do that late tonight or on Monday morning. I have to make dinner and dessert for tonight.

I should probably shower.

Then I have to pack for the cottage. We're leaving first thing tomorrow. I can think more about Texas on Sunday night/Monday morning. A new panic will ensue at that point.

I'm really excited about going to Texas but I wish I could hire a professional chef, packer and organizer just for today. That would be sweet. Any volunteers?

Aeroplan has come through for me

I rebooked my flights for Texas. Unlike a few years ago when I had a BRUTAL experience, Aeroplan/Air Canada totally came through for me and the woman on the phone was really great.

I leave Monday August 27 at 4:51 arriving in Austin around 11 pm (ick. poor Hope) and return to Ottawa on September 6. I'll be there about 10 days. I'm so excited but at the same time feel sick about being away for 10 days. The longest I've been away from Emily is one night and that was really difficult. I'm sure I'll cry a few times. Or maybe I'll love it.

Hope will be with me, obviously, since John doesn't have boobs.

Baby Texan has arrived

Beth called me yesterday morning at 8:30 to tell me her water had broken at 11:30 the night before and that Graeme was in Boston when it happened. She was at the birth centre. She'd been there since her water broke. Graeme was on flights trying to get back to Austin. He wasn't expected for another 5 hours. She was worried he wouldn't make it in time. The midwives were going to try to slow things down with positioning. She said she'd call me later.

At first I was worried that he wouldn't make it. Her contractions were 4 minutes apart. But then I remembered that this was her first birth and she very likely had HOURS ahead of her. I was glad I hadn't reminded her of this on the phone. You don't really need to hear that when you are already several hours in.

I was right. Baby Texan was born last evening "around 6 or 7, I'm not sure," according to Graeme. As of last night, Beth was doing fine, although there was still some bleeding the midwives were trying to slow down but it looked like it would be fine. The baby (I never asked her name... but I assume they're still going with the original choice of Kate - suggested by yours truly) is doing great, too, with only a bit of bruising on her head (sounds like the last while was pretty tough on Beth and B.T.). She weighed around 7 pounds so although she was officially a month early, I think in reality she was right on time.

I hope to get more details from Beth today. I'll spend my day trying to get Aeroplan to get me a flight to Texas leaving earlier than my original departure date of September 20.

Congratulations, guys! Get some pictures to us! Erika, I'm so glad to be an aunt with you!

Alert Weight Watchers

Emily's take on healthy living:

"Daddy, wanna peach? They're really good for your body.... they make you big and strong.... and fat!"

Who needs a wet wipe?

Hope had just woken up from her nap. Emily was already awake. I had both of them playing in Hope's crib. I checked and removed Hope's diaper and then lifted her out of the crib.

"Hope's pee just got in my face!"

"Sorry, Emily."

"That's okay... I wiped it off..."

"Oh, that's good."

"...with my tongue."

WCW: laziness or maybe just too damned busy

Until 5:15 I had plans to make vegetable risotto for supper and, it being Wednesday, to share the recipe here. But at 5:15 I was pulling into the driveway after standing at Future Shop for twenty minutes to return our decrepit portable DVD player, standing in line at Walmart to buy toilet paper and stopping at the community centre to get a number so that I could stand in line there at 5:45.

We ate pizza for supper.

I promise that next week I will wow you all with something. Something preferably homemade and not in a cardboard box.

Updated lens wear

It's been two years since I last got new glasses and since that means my insurance is willing to pay up for some new ones, I jumped in and got new contacts and new glasses. A shear lens wear windfall!

Here are the new glasses:



Here is a less artsy shot of me actually wearing them:

You can't really tell from the photos, but they're red. A very updated Sally Jesse Raphael.

Emily's take on theology

Me: Did you hear a story at Vacation Bible School this morning?

Emily: Yes.

Me: What was it about?

Emily: Jesus and his magic stick.

(Later I found out that it was really about Moses and his magic stick a.k.a the parting of the Red Sea. The woman who told me pretty much lost it when I mentioned Jesus and his magic stick.)

The birthday breakdown

We seem to be over the birthday hump, at least for now. Further celebrations will ensue when my dad visits in the next two weeks and when we meet up with John's family at the cottage near the end of the month.

Emily had a great day. We went out for breakfast to Cora's. Hope was a nightmare so we didn't linger. From there we went to Brewer Park. Funnily enough, Nevan (Emily's closest friend) happened to be there with Jim (John's work wife). Emily had a great time - as she always does at the park. After that it was home for naps and serious cleaning and preparation for the party.

When I asked Emily if she would like to have someone over for her birthday, she predictably asked only for Nevan (and Pam, Jim and Celia, of course). She also asked for a Dora birthday cake. The Nevan part was easy enough but I was nervous about the cake. I'd never done a cake more complicated than some chocolate icing (often out of a can, because, yum) and some candles.

Turns out, I did great! I'm very proud of how it turned out and I can now see many more kids cakes in my future. I have to admit, it was pretty fun to do, even if the kitchen was a bit of a bakery disaster zone after it was done.

The kids had a great time. Emily was pretty wired during the whole thing but managed to get to bed on time. Unfortunately we had one of our worst nights ever that night. She was sick - with a cold it seems - and up a lot of the night. She ended up sleeping with me, waking me up every hour or so with her jimmy legs. Add to that Hope still getting up about 4 times a night and I was one seriously tired nasty bitch the next day.

But then. Then! Last night Hope only got up once! Once! It didn't escape us that she finally ate better yesterday with a big supper. I've got to figure out how to get her to eat better during the day so that it can translate to better nights. Right now she only wants food off our fork and from our plates. It makes planning suppers a lot more complicated.

More birthday photos can be found on Flickr. Oh wait. Flickr is demanding a Yahoo sign-in. Okay, now it can't find my original Flickr account. Trying again. Okay, now I'm pissed. I am officially done with Flickr and will find some other way to post photos. Stay tuned.

Update: I've moved over to Photobucket. The jury is still out on what I think but it is fully in on what I think of Flickr right now. Anyway, here is the link for the birthday photos.

How did three years go by so fast?

Happy birthday, Pumpkin. I love you.

Mish mash

Emily has had some true gems lately and with all the comings and goings to the cottage and back and me hobbling along, I just haven't been able to get much of it down or get much of anything done, really. So, this is a mish mash post of whatever comes to mind.

Emily started her new preschool playgroup last week. It's her very first drop-off program. She's going with her friend, Nevan. Since it is very close to our house, Pam brings Nevan and Celia (who is the same age as Hope) over and then one of us takes Nevan and Emily over to the community centre. Last week, the first week, Nevan arrived with his jacket on as it was pouring rain. He came in and I unzipped his jacket. He said: "Did Momma show you how to unzip coats?" I love the worlds these guys live in.

This week I took the two kids over to the community centre. I had them both go pee before we went into the preschool room. Nevan went first and then Emily. We were all in the same stall. After Nevan was done, Emily sat down and said: "Nevan has a different kind of gina."

You can't really argue with that.

Last weekend we were at the cottage with our friends Meredith and Ron and their kids Ella and Duncan. Ella is 18 months older than Emily. The first day at the cottage was great. Emily and Ella played well together, mainly playing with some toys that Ella brought. Pretty much only playing with one toy: Polly Pockets. Emily doesn't own any toys like that - no little dolls, no dolls at all really. She just hasn't shown and interest and I haven't fostered one but she was really into Ella's Polly Pockets. The second day got bad, fast. They became oil and water and the worst of it seemed to be about Polly Pockets, so much so that we banned the toy and I even at one point forbade the two girls to be in the same room as one another. Yesterday Meredith took the kids while John and I went to see the Order of the Phoenix (amazing friend, isn't she?). When we arrived Ella asked Emily if she wanted to play Polly Pockets. Emily said (and this is verbatim by the way): "That's not a good idea right now, Ella. I don't play Polly Pockets well." To see that kind of self-assessment in a three-year old makes me feel a bit immature really.

Emily's birthday is tomorrow. I'm making a Dora cake. I forgot my camera at the cottage (ugh!) so I'll have to rely on others to take photos, grizzly, horrifying photos of my attempts at a Dora cake.

The ankle is still bad. I've got an appointment with the doctor on Monday morning. Something just doesn't seem right.

I've got a heck of a lot of giant zucchini. Anyone got any ideas for that?

John and I spent a few days during July (mainly during one of our cottage trips) reading Harry Potter. Every night we would put the kids to bed and then sit up and read it aloud. It was wonderful. It will be one of my favourite and most vivid memories of this summer. Oh, and the book rocked. It was everything I wanted it to be.

So, I'm going back to school. Part-time anyway. I decided earlier this summer to apply to a certificate program at Carleton (where John is a prof and therefore where I get free tuition. Woohoo!) for teaching English as a second language. I got my acceptance this week and I'm excited. I'm less excited about the fact that there are very few courses available this year that I can fit into taking care of two kids full time. I'm starting with one course on Structures of English, which is a grammar course. I love grammar and this will probably be a lot of fun for me. So, I get to go back-to-school shopping! I like my job, I feel I already have a lot of eduction under my belt that can get me another good job, but I want a career change, or at least the option of a career change and I think teaching ESL will be a lot more family-friendly and community-minded than what I do now.

Hope's sleep is shit again. I'm not worrying about it too much but I am tired. Really, really tired. Don't know how to fix it, I'm just hoping it works itself out. She's become a real Daddy's girl. It's very cute. She reaches for John when he comes into the room and you can see him trying not to smile in total satisfaction because he knows I'm a little jealous. I'm pretty much over the slight jealousy and I'm enjoying it, too. I figure I can use this at some point to make him do all the night time wake-ups. Hah! Good one.

There, I think I've emptied my brain at least for now. I feel a few pounds lighter.

A little something extra

In trying to upload my blog posts to Facebook, I added a subscribe feature to the blog - over there. See it? No, over there, on the right. Although it totally didn't work in Facebook and I still can't figure out how to upload my posts to the Notes section there, you can, if you choose, subscribe to get notices of blog updates. Yeah, I know. More spam type email. Still, thought you might like to know.

Mike Holmes, I'm not

For the past week we have had a decent sized puddle sitting in our laundry room. At first I thought it was coming from the washing machine. Nope. Maybe leaking from the pipes going to the laundry tub? Nope. Then I figured it must be the air conditioner. Nope. Next, I read on the InterWeb thingy, that water leakage from a furnace is a common problem. By process of elimination, I figured this must be it. Not being adept with furnaces (not even a tiny bit), I called a furnace repair place. For $95 they said they would come over and do a "diagnostic." Turns out this was a fair price compared to some of the other companies I called.

Greg the furnace repair guy came over this afternoon. After all of 5 minutes in the basement, he called me down and very nicely pointed to the tap on the laundry tub. I looked a little more closely and saw a distinct drip, drip, drip running over the back of the tub and feeding the expanding puddle on the floor.

Amazing what $95 and a little ineptitude can get you these days.

Ankle of many colours

My ankle swelling reached its peak while we were at the cottage. I described my ankle as really belonging to a gout-ish British senior. It really was that attractive. The swelling is way down now - only a little left. The colours though, oh, the colours! And the pain, oh, the pain! I thought it would be feeling a lot better by now. I've sprained my other ankle a few times and don't remember it hurting this much. Granted, I had the luxury of staying off of it for a few days, something I haven't been able to do this time being that there are two little people biting at my ankles all the time. Just to be sure that there is nothing seriously wrong, I'm going to see the doctor this week. Sometime.

A photo update:

A sprain in the ass

I trucked the kids off in the bike trailer this morning to the park. Our local city park, Greenboro, has a great wading pool and sprinkler plus a decent playground. The library and community centre are right there making it a childhood (and tired mother's) mecca. We're there a lot.

I dismounted the bike, had Hope in one arm, our bag of gear in the other, Emily tagging along. I took one step and my ankle rolled off the paved path and into the soft sand beside it. The distinct crack I heard told me there was likely a torn ligament. Me hitting the ground like a bag of wet cement told me that I was going to have a shitty time at the pool today. I do credit myself however for hanging onto Hope as well as I did. She held on and giggled thinking my wincing and yelping was part of a new game.

As I gasped in pain, holding Hope and trying to answer Emily's questions, I flagged a lifeguard who brought me some ice packs. As I was on City of Ottawa property, the (very) young male lifeguard had to do an incident report. He asked my age. "Thirty-five," I said. "Oh," he said, "I would have said twenty-five. " Flattery will totally get you everywhere. I truly believe this boy deserves a raise.

The lifeguards propped me up in a couple of lounge chairs with my foot elevated. They were great. We girls ate our snack. Not wanting Emily to miss out on her swim, I changed them (somehow from my chair) and then painfully hobbled over to the shallow area where I plopped down Hope and prayed that Emily would listen and stay close. She did. I actually couldn't have had a better behaved toddler this morning. She did everything I asked, she played in the water without me with no complaints, she helped me carry things and even got ready to go home with no crying.

I'm so glad I biked there this morning. I was able to bike back without too much discomfort. I wouldn't have been able to walk back. I would have had to take Mr. Lifeguard up on his offer to piggy back me home.

The sprained ankle sucks but I'm choosing to look at it from a different angle - this gives me an excuse to sit on my ass and be pampered for a bit.

We're off to the cottage again tomorrow with some good friends, Meredith, Ron, and their kids, Ella and Duncan. More hands to fetch my drinks and fluff my pillows.

I think the ice did help at the pool. Here is the swelling I've got now. Left is bad ankle, right is normal ankle (I guess that was kind of obvious) - no comments about my skinny, bony feet, please - they keep me upright, well, most of the time:

A reason to have kids

The phone rang this afternoon. It was my sister-in-law, Sue. We started chatting and Emily, as has been typical lately, starting peppering me with "What you talkin' bout, Mummy? Mummy, what you talkin' bout?" I kept talking, ignoring her for a few seconds, hoping she would get the hint to, um, shut it.

I guess to get my attention, she pulled out this gem, from where I'll never know but it made my afternoon: She started patting my chest (for some odd reason) and said: "What you talkin' bout, little fella?"

Just awesome.

Proud mama

I finally get it. I finally understand the overwhelming pride I've heard from other mums when they describe witnessing their kids' achievements. Not that I haven't been proud of Emily before. Of course, I have. But last week I was actually choking back tears and cheering and then couldn't stop cheering and felt like she was possibly the most amazing kid in the world - don't you see it!? Did everybody see it?! She is the most amazing person in the world, isn't she? Why isn't anyone else crying? You should all be crying!

I finally get what Shannon felt when she watched Abby sing as the only member of the choir. I really get it now.

Last week we went over to Steve's cottage (Steve is married to John's sister, Sue) in Orillia. Steve's grandpa, years ago, had devised a nifty little ski-board for the kids so they could have any easier way to water ski. Essentially it is a piece of plywood with a very short ski rope handle on it that they stand on while pulled very slowly behind the Sea-Doo in a little circle near the dock. Rather ingenious. Emily's cousins went first and Emily, to my amazement, said she wanted to try it. I held her in place and pushed her up and got her going and, whoa, off she went all by herself. Staring straight ahead with her little arms pulled right in, not moving a muscle she went for the whole circle and didn't dump until her dear mother fumbled the ending and caused her to face plant in the lake. Oops. Unfortunate because it kind of ruined it for her but not for me. While she did her tour I was working hard to swallow the lump in my throat, my arms raised in the air, clapping and cheering. She didn't see any of it because she wouldn't move her little eyes from looking straight ahead, concentrating with all her might. I was so completely proud of her. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Wow, she's mine.

Turns out she unseated her cousin Claire for youngest to ever successfully ride it. She broke the three year old barrier. Go, Em, go! Sorry, we were all so riveted to watching her, it wasn't captured on film so you'll just have to take my word for it.

She also tried the inflatable water slide and loved it, for a while. Until she did a naked face plant and decided it was no longer fun. I have video of it. I had it posted here and after going back and forth I decided it was probably really irresponsible to put that up here. Just assume that it is damn cute and really funny. It is.

My other proud moment was later in the week when she, on her own, figured out how to use the inflatable ring to swim. That was it for her, there was no stopping her, or the begging to be in the lake at all times.


Hope was her usual mischievous self, sleeping so-so, getting a tooth and being the most amazing baby, bar none.



We're making it a bit of a habit (not that I'm complaining) to stop at the Wilno Tavern on the way home - about 40 minutes outside of the east gates of Algonquin Park. Emily calls it the Pirogi Restaurant. The Wilno Tavern is in Wilno, Canada's first Polish settlement. I guess I don't have to tell you that people would likely commit terrible crimes for their pirogies. Emily included. Of course, put a bowl of sour cream in front of the girl and she considers it a meal.

Might be a sellout but at least I'm clean

About three weeks ago I received an email from a very nice woman in California asking if I would be willing to review a laundry detergent, which she would mail to me at no charge, and then post my review here on my blog.

My first thought was: wow, seriously? Do that many people actually read this that someone wants to use me to market a product. I was feeling kinda good, a little proud. But then I started thinking: if I do this, am I a sellout? Will people think less of me? More importantly, will people be less interested in reading the blog?

I thought about it for a day, and after confirming that I could be as honest as I wished, I accepted. Pretty much it came down to this: no salary starting in August, free laundry soap.

So, for those of you in the U.S., keep reading. The detergent I received is Wisk 3X Multi-Action. When she told me the product name I got a bit nostalgic because my mum used Wisk (the original version) throughout my childhood. Turns out though that Unilever, the company that makes Wisk (and who by the by, hired me to do a Dove commercial several years ago but that's another post for another day), took the brand out of Canada a few years ago. I realized this while I was perusing the shelves at Loblaws looking for it. It seems that Unilever replaced Wisk with Sunlight in Canada. So, we do in fact have Sunlight 3x Multi-Action but it has different flavours as it were. Don't know why they did this but right then I decided I better not like the Wisk too much or it would be tantamount to developing a taste for Payday or Baby Ruth.

Anywho. As detergent goes, this is pretty damn good. It smells good (original scent is what I have) but doesn't leave much of a scent on the dried clothes, just a hint of one, which I really appreciated. It gets the clothes very clean - cleaner than my clothes have been in a long time. Sorry, Tide, seems you've been replaced. It also doubles as a stain treater. How cool... that means one less bottle of stuff in my laundry room. If you check out the Wisk website you'll see that beyond its cleaning power, Unilever is really marketing this as an environmental product. Through a little caluclator program you can determine how much less gas, plastic and cardboard you will help to save by using the product. The reason behind this is because you use 3x less detergent per load than a traditional detergent. I found this pretty damn cool too. Really - you won't believe how little you actually put in. So there. I liked it. I'll very likely buy the Sunlight version. Now I go into my honest bit.

If Unilever is really serious about the environment, they would sell this in bigger bottles. If you really want us to save on plastic, scrap the tiny bottle this comes in and sell it in the traditional big bottles, at least as an option to the consumer. Yes, the price would be quite high, but I'd be buying the equivalent amount over time anyway. My next issue: why, seriously, do detergents need dyes? I couldn't find out on the Wisk site if there is a dye-free option. Sunlight has one (dye and scent free) called Sensitive Skin. Come on guys... why do you think I need my detergent to be a very "clean" blue colour? I get it, you're trying to play with my mind and make me think that because it is icy blue it somehow has more cleaning power. Please, just take out all the dyes. I know it gets clothes clean. We all do. Give us some credit and do a little extra for the Earth.

Now for my really big beef with laundry detergent and all liquid cleaning products: I honestly can't see any reason why there aren't refill stations in the grocery stores. In our local environmental shop here in Ottawa, Arbour, you can refill a number of cleaning products, saving countless plastic containers, fuel and energy to carry and produce them, not to mention the energy to recycle them. Why not the big companies? I see this as a huge opportunity for a company like Unilever to take a serious leadership role in making a big environmental impact and in so doing, gain some serious customer loyalty. If they took the step to do this, they would have me for life.

As I mentioned, I liked the product. I'll buy the Sunlight version. I liked the mild scent (can't speak to Sunlight's) and I liked how clean the clothes were and how little detergent is used. There is a high-efficiency washer version too, by they way. Now, if Unilever would just take my other suggestions I might just turn this into the Unilever fan club site.

There you have it folks. Hope you come back for some regular, product-free posts. But hey, I'll be smelling good and looking clean for a couple of months.

Home again

While Emily and I certainly didn't want to, we returned from the cottage yesterday. The house is in shambles, the laundry is in limbo, there is grocery shopping to be done and yet Emily is watching Blue's Clues while I play around on the internet looking for things to keep me away from everything I should be doing.

We had an amazing few days. The days were spent swimming and playing. The evenings, after the kids were asleep, were spent reading Harry Potter aloud to each other. We're about 65 pages from the end and we're totally loving it.

I'll post some good photos, some good stories and even a short video later today (or tomorrow depending on how much I get accomplished today).

We're going back next week for the long weekend. Hurrah!

Hope Corleone

It took 4 days. Four days of, at times, awful crying, of lots of rocking, of singing, of tears (hers and mine). This morning Hope fell asleep after 10 minutes of crying, this afternoon after about 2 or 3 (and her favourite song of course). Tonight it was mere seconds. Yeah, it was worth it. Yeah, I probably fretted about it too much, particularly since this is my second child and I should know better. But you know what I've learned, or at least, remembered? Even if it is your second or third or fourth, it hurts just as much to have to make the tough decisions and you wring your hands about it just as much.

There is one lasting effect from all of this trauma. Hope is hoarse. Her voice? Gonzo. She seriously sounds like Marlon Brando. She has a raspy laugh and an even raspier cry. Poor kid. It's a lasting reminder of what we've been through together the last few days.

I solicited advice because we never did this with Emily. She was a barfer if left to cry on her own. Not worth it, let me tell you. Things are different this time in another way - I have Emily to think of. I can't take the time to gently coax Hope into sleep when Emily is playing downstairs. It would take at least an hour and by then Emily would have the kitchen on fire or at least be making vanilla pizza.

You laugh. She seriously did this one day when she was left in the kitchen for only a few minutes. Vanilla. Pizza. Vanilla all over everything. No actual pizza though. Damn. That could have been good.

Where was I? Right. Hope, sleep, Emily wreaking havoc. Hope is in the unenviable position of being second child. I just can't lay down with her or sleep with her or spend a lot of time coaxing her into sleep (as I did with Emily, admittedly). At this age, she is forced to figure it out. This is especially true now that Emily has decided that she is afraid of airplanes (a bit of a problem when you live right near an airport) and usually wakes up once a night to either tell me that or cry about that. If she doesn't wake up for that reason, she wakes up to go pee (yes, friends... pee! She is diaperless at night! Emily. My Emily. Can you believe it?). Only a month ago she had reverted to pooping in her underwear, something I never divulged on the blog because I was so SICK of talking about Emily's poop and bemoaning the fact that she wouldn't use the damn toilet. I reintroduced Smarties, other rewards, the small potty and voila! here we are. No Pull-Ups, no accidents (I know I'm tempting fate, but damn it, I'm proud!).

Let's move on now, shall we?

We're going to the cottage tomorrow. Third trip this summer which means one thing: this summer rocks!

See you back here in a few days with some photos and the usual, and given the weather in Ottawa, probably some monster vegetables in the back yard.

Oh, and I'm on Facebook now with the 1 trillion other Canadians who are joining in record numbers. Nothing like following the crowd. An upside? I'll never be going to a high school reunion.

What's cooking Wednesday

When you looked at the picture below you probably realized that a zucchini got away from me in the garden. I don't quite understand it. This one was there among all the tiny ones. When I saw it I knew that I would be stuffing a zucchini this week and thus, this week's What's Cooking Wednesday.


Straight from the much-used Moosewood Cookbook comes Zuccanoes (read that zoo-canoes), or Stuffed Zucchini. Note: you'll need 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice for this so do that first.

4 medium-sized zucchini (or one mother zucchini)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups minced onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 lb mushrooms, minced (we were all out of mushrooms so I used finely diced green pepper)
6 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups finely minced (or ground) almonds
3 tbsp lemon juice
black pepper and cayenne to taste
small handfuls of freshly minced herbs, if available (I used chives, thyme and basil)
optional: 1 cup grated Swiss cheese (I used parmesan)
optional: tomato sauce or some sort of sauce on top (although stated as optional, this would be pretty bland without it. More on that later)

1. Cut zucchini lengthwise down the middle. use a spoon to scoop out the insides, leaving a canoe with 1/4 inch shell. Finely mince the scrapings; set the canoes aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add onion and salt, and saute over medium heat 5 to 8 minutes, or until the onion is soft.
3. Add zucchini innards and mushrooms, and saute another 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic during the last few minutes.
4. Place rice and almonds in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the saute and lemon juice and mix well. Season to taste with black pepper, cayenne and optional fresh herbs.
5. Preheat oven to 350 F. Fill the zucchini shells, top with cheese, if using, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until heated through. Serve hot.

I made Red Pepper Puree to put on top and let me just say, it totally made this dish, which is good on it's own but really flies with the sauce on top. So, it's really easy. Here you go:

Chop two red peppers into large chunks. Steam them over boiling water until they are very soft. Puree in a food processor or blender and then pass through a sieve. Add some salt and pepper and one clove of minced or mashed garlic. Pour on top of the Zuccanoes.

Just to keep you on your toes, switching topics in the blink of an eye, thanks everyone for your advice regarding Hope. Things still suck. She was up from 3 until 5 crying last night. Yes, I feel really shitty about it but I don't know what else to do. If I rock her she just wakes up when I try and put her in her crib. I pretty much have to wait until she is so exhausted from crying that she passes out when she finally hits the mattress. We're sitting her right now listening to her cry again. Although this is Day 3 of the crying, we're not seeing any progress but we're keeping it up for five days and then we'll reassess. I'm sure it's developmental and it will all pass but Sweet Marie, is it hard to hear her cry. I just have to keep telling myself that this is working towards something. Damn, I hope I'm right.

I thought it was supposed to be easier

When you're pregnant with your second child you hear over and over again how it will be easier this time. For the most part it has been but for the past two months, it hasn't been the case, at least in regard to Hope's sleep. Or, lack of sleep in fact.

When she hit 8 months old, she stopped going to sleep on her own, she stopped sleeping through the night on occasion. She started waking up A LOT. She started wanting boob every time she woke up. She became difficult to get to sleep. If the boob doesn't do it, I'm pretty much sunk. Like right now. She's wailing up there again.

John and I have decided to take some drastic action. We are not "cry it out" people. We don't like it. It didn't work with Emily the odd time we tried it and both of us have a hard time listening to our kids cry for us and ignoring them. We've also found that it doesn't work that well, it doesn't teach them to fall asleep on their own in a nice way. On the other hand, I can see why some people get desperate enough to do it. I've done it with Hope before but I never let her cry more than 10 minutes and in the past, that was all it took before she fell asleep anyway.

These days it's a completely different story. We're at a loss of how to get her to sleep. Singing, rocking, letting her play in her crib, using her crib aquarium thingy, breastfeeding... none of it works right now. So, we resorted to the method we've shunned in the past. Last night we let her cry for an hour before going in. Tonight, she's crying again and from experience, I'm betting she'll cry for an hour again before we go in. I wonder how long she would go if we didn't go in there. I'm not willing to find out.

You're probably wondering why we're letting her cry for an hour and then going in there anyway. Seems cruel, I know. However, last night, after the hour was up, I went in, picked her up and she instantly fell asleep in my arms. Of course, then I have to try to get her out of my arms, which often means she wakes up again. You see the problem. Anyway, last night, she did stay asleep and then slept until 4:00 a.m. 4:00 a.m.! We're hoping that this is teaching her that we won't hold her the whole night long, that we have to leave the room, and that, damn it, she better get on board with this whole sleep thing.

I know this is opening up some potentially nasty cans of worms out there. Everyone has an opinion, parent or not, on letting kids cry. I'm sure do. I just needed to get this out there so you can see the pain of what we're dealing with right now. I hate hearing my kids cry. I hate to be the reason for it. I also hate getting up 3 or 4 times a night or more and then getting no breaks during the day so that I feel like I'm constantly on the verge of tears just from shear exhaustion.

In other words, nah, it's not really "easier" the second time around.

Cottage time is good time

Well, it is only a week later and I'm already getting up the post on our week at the cottage. Must be some kind of record for me. I guess I'm just that organized.

We arrived in Huntsville on Thursday around supper so headed over to our favourite fish and chip joint, Westside Fish and Chips. Life was grand, we were officially on vacation time and then Emily puked all over the floor - chewed up fish and chips among other unrecognizable things decorated the carpet around our table. She was fine one minute, coughing the next, sticking her fingers in her mouth and then, pow. We had a few theories: choking? carsick? Veggie Booty gone bad (and later recalled)? We never quite figured it out but it was a nasty way to start the week. Emily was fine afterward and, to John's amazement, after I cleaned up the floor, I sat down and ate the rest of my dinner. No way I'm letting a little barf put me off my fish and chips.

On Friday, Emily, Hope and I left John to work on his writing while we went over to the Henkelman cottage. Beth and Graeme were over there and they invited us for the day so I could ride in the newly christened electric boat hand-crafted by Graeme's brother, Jonathan. I also wanted to see frequent-commenter and Graeme's sister, Erika. It was a great day, made greater by the fact that Jannie, Graeme's mom, took Hope for a few hours so Emily and I could tour Lake Rousseau in the boat. The boat was beautiful, the weather sunny with a little breeze. We went through the locks and into Port Carling reliving what many cottagers have done for eons - shop by boat. We pulled up to the butcher shop, the liquor store and the grocery store. I'm having trouble describing how it felt - nostalgic and yet I'd never done it before; historic, but that seems cliche; peaceful and yet we were shopping with many other people. Anyway, if you are ever in a situation where you can do it, please do, it just feels good.

The best part of that afternoon was a memory I'll recall a lot over the years. Emily slept in my arms for about 30 minutes on the boat. It took me back to her baby days when she often needed to be held while she slept. I spent those 30 minutes remembering that and peering into her sleeping face. I think that face is the most beautiful creation I saw last week.

On Sunday Beth and Graeme came to our cottage for the rest of the week and then on Monday, we left the men to their writing again and all the girls went over to my dad's wife's cottage near Gravenhurst. Emily had a newly bought paddle. She eagerly jumped into the canoe with Donna and one of her nieces ready to set that paddle in motion. They returned to the dock about 5 minutes later. Emily declared "I'm fustated!". Seems the paddle doesn't quite reach the water very easily when you are 3 feet tall.

On Wednesday, Beth's close friend and cottage regular, Sara, arrived to spend the rest of the week with us. You know when you get that perfect balance of people together so that every conversation is pretty much great? That is this group of people. We spent every night talking or playing games (and talking). It's pretty memorable when you can spend a night talking about everything from why a person would possibly own a season of Alf on DVD to the pros and cons of using Wikipedia as a source for academic research to why KFC's fries really should have been labelled "steams" and why people actually ate them for so long. Although it has been a common occurrence in my life, I almost peed my pants on that one.

Saturday was the big baby shower. The weather held, there was a lot of bocce ball played, great food and Beth and Graeme did well on the gifts. The best bocce shot of the day was performed by one of Graeme's uncles who managed to sink it down a groundhog hole under our neighbour's cottage. One in a million, I say, one in a million. It was a really fun afternoon. The rest of the baby shower photos are on Flickr.

The not mentioned parts of the week were spent doing some minor renovations on the cottage and disposing of many (I think last count was seven?) mice. Seems it is an outright gang, possibly even an organized ring.

A Happy Ending

You may remember that a while back I was forced to cancel our much-anticipated trip to Boston. You may also remember that not only was I seriously disappointed as it was the first regular kind of vacation we would have had in a LONG time but also that I had to submit a travel insurance claim to a big, bad American insurance company and hope that they would have mercy on my pathetic little soul.

Well, turns out that they did! Yesterday I got a cheque (oh, it's an American company so that should be "check") in the mail for the entire amount I claimed! Yes! That's right! THE ENTIRE AMOUNT.

Let me just say: woohoo. (I couldn't bear using one more exclamation point.)

I'm rather pleased. One less month eating Spam.

Wanted: 40 winks

The last 36 hours or so have gone pretty much like this: girls did not nap at the same time yesterday so no break for me yesterday afternoon; Hope didn't go to sleep until 10:00 last night; Emily got up at 6:30 this morning; took girls on a "tourist in your own town" adventure today which required me to push Emily in the stroller all over Parliament Hill and Byward Market while carrying Hope's 20 pounds on my back; Emily didn't nap today; Hope napped for 1 hour; took Emily and Hope to playground late this afternoon pushing Emily on her tricycle and carrying Hope, again, on my back; tonight I fixed Emily's tricycle and started to assemble bike trailer for tomorrow's adventures. Somewhere in there I also cooked a decent dinner. I don't have the energy to post the recipe. It was meatballs on skewers with pineapple stuck on the bbq. Sounds good in theory but the meatballs fell off. Not worth sharing the recipe.

For now, I will lay me down to rest.

10 months

Dear Hopes (my newest nickname for you in a long line of nicknames),

You turned 10 months old on July 7 while we were all celebrating Baby Texan's imminent arrival. The day did not go by however without me quietly reflecting on all that you are to me. Today I was reminded again that 10 months can go by so quickly because in just one day I am seeing significant changes in you.

You spent today doing the following: pulling up on every piece of furniture or person or pully-uppy thing in your reach, learning to wave bye-bye, standing for just a few seconds all on your own. I looked at you tonight while I was failing to put you to sleep (I'm listening to you cry through the monitor as I type this) and no longer saw the baby that you have been the last 10 months. Instead, I saw the toddler that you are becoming. The toddler you became last night it seemed while you slept. Your hair is starting to curl at the back reminding me of Emily's toddler days. Your face is so expressive. You are strongly motivated to get what you want when you want and show your fury when you don't get it. You've developed a distinct scream to show your anger and frustration. But when you are really happy in any single moment, your face is completely swallowed by your wide smile.

You love me. You make that very clear in your tender moments when you are feeling a little sad or tired. It's always me you want. And I love it. Your face lights up when I walk in the room or when I start to take you out of your car seat or when you and I start playing little game of peekaboo. You wave your arms in anticipation of me picking you up and this completely makes my day each and every time you do it.

I'm so excited about the days, months and years ahead of us. So glad you are here my not-so-wee one. I better go get you now... I hear the fury of Hope building.

Love
Mummy

Long in the tooth

After months of speculation, Hope has finally produced a pearly white. Noticed just this evening as I prodded her gums between her body thrashing and screams, the little ridge of her first tooth has poked through her gums at the bottom front. Poor wee thing. She is unhappy (when not medicated) but prepared to move from gumming to actual chewing one of these days.

It's a big milestone. My kids generally get their teeth "late" if you believe the books. But now that one is through I know there are more to follow on top and probably in short order if she follows in her sister's footsteps. Ah well. Who needs sleep anyway? Really, it is for the weak. And the lucky.

Banner trouble

I noticed just now that my banner is gone. I guess while I was on vacation it decided to take the opportunity and make a run for it.

So, it will be plain Jane up there until I find the time to design something.

Back

We're back from a glorious, if rainy, week and a half at the cottage. It was, as John put it, the best week he has had there in years. This was due mainly to the people we were with: Beth (my sister, Graeme (her husband), Sara (friend of Beth's that joins us there every year. It is now a requirement) and of course, us and the kids.

The week was coined as the best in a long time for a number of reasons:

1. Emily's age means she can play for hours on end there without getting bored or needing help
2. Hope handled being away from home like a trooper
3. Sara is possibly one of the funniest people we know
4. we spent hours in the evenings sitting, laughing, talking about interesting things, laughing again. Oh, and laughing again.
5. Graeme tends to keep a miser's hoard of chips in his room.we got good work done on the cottage. A cottage that tends to need lots of work.
6. I got lots of time with Beth. Awesome.
   
7. I swam, read, ate good food. I didn't sleep a lot. That's Hope's fault. She's forgotten how.
8. John and Graeme got lots of time for their writing and work which made the week less stressful for them.
9. We were the only ones up there. It felt like we had a compound to ourselves.
   
10. Finally, and simply, we were at the cottage and that makes the starting point for happy just a little higher anyway.

I'll give a full report later complete with photos. We did have a baby shower for Beth up there that was a lot of fun and the weather held for the few hours that we needed.

Last note is that the war of the mice has reached a pinnacle. Seems they gathered their forces while we were gone and came back with some mercenaries. We seem to be winning the battle, but I'm unclear on which side is winning the war.

Oh, and I'll have to inform you later on the weird discoveries that lead us to believe that someone has possibly been squatting in the cottage. Sadly, we've had to install a giant lock on the back door rather than leave everything unlocked as usual. I really liked that we've done that for so long. I like that we trusted the world to behave.

Okay, I better get some breakfast and then plan out what's going on around here. There is some stuff to do. Most of it laundry. None of it involving a stroller as there is a giant bin blocking our garage due to the roofing that was supposed to be done by now but apparently Ottawa has had a more rain that you can fathom and our roof is right now only partially covered in shingles. Rain. No shingles. Wonder how that will work out.