First day of school

Today is Emily's first day of Senior Kindergarten (SK). Waterloo schools (most of them) do full-day kindergarten alternating days, which is a confusing way to say that she attends on Tuesdays, Thursdays and every other Friday. Other kids go Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday. This is a not-so-great way to save on bus money, making things more difficult for teachers and students alike. Mrs. K, Emily's new teacher, told me this morning she would much prefer the "old" way of half-day every day. I know we really liked it last year in Ottawa and I'm glad Hope will be going back to that when she starts JK next year back at home.

No matter, I think Emily will have a great year. Mrs. K seems very nice and Emily was characteristically enthusiastic this morning, asking me about 10 times starting at 7:30 if it was time to leave yet.

This year we get to walk to school which is wonderful. I love the charm of walking to school. There are so many treasures to discover and pick up along the way! I did it up until Grade 9 and I wished Emily had that chance last year. I will love walking her to school this year with Hope running along behind.

Because Emily is there for full days, she has to take a lunch. Eek! Packing a lunch! I really wanted to avoid this until Grade 1. And there is a snack too of course. Today she headed off with a fruit/coleslaw salad, two plums, a piece of lemon square (thanks, Sara!), an apple, a rice pudding and water.

Yes, she requested the fruity coleslaw. I made it last night, packed her whole lunch and then realized at 6:00 this morning that I left her lunch out all night long. With mayonaisey coleslaw and rice pudding. I repacked the lunch at 7:00 with fresh COLD food. And an ice pack.

She wasn't teary at all (I didn't expect her to be), she was very excited and didn't seem too worried that she didn't know anyone. There are 4 other new SK kids in her class so she isn't the only newbie.

I hope she has a great day. Later today my wee Hope goes to her first drop-off preschool. Mummy may have a heart attack.

Eating dirt

For the past two months, Hope has had this unfortunate habit of landing face first in playground dirt/sand/gravel with her mouth wide open. Usually during some odd dismount of equipment.

The first time, she came over and said "Somethin's crunchy!". I tried to wipe it out but it was essentially a poor finger sweep. I thought it was just a one-off. Apparently it was the start of a "thing."

Since then, every single time we're at a playground, Hope spends a good part of it with a mouth full of gravel. She now prefaces this by making a beeline in my direction, saying nothing, but with her tongue sticking out as far as it can go. (Photo evidence below.) Really, words aren't necessary for her to tell me what's wrong anymore. I know what the problem is every time. Since it happens EVERY VISIT to ANY playground ANYWHERE.

A friend here in Waterloo, Julie, finds it unbelievably funny and weird. Both are true. I usually find it hard to clean her tongue since I'm laughing so hard.

I now have a system in place to deal with the gravel-tongue. I carry a good size water bottle and pour as much water on her face as she'll tolerate. Still a bit crunchy in there but good enough to head back to the playground and fill her mouth with sand again.

Turning a new leaf: meal planning

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. We have a big trip coming up - two months in Texas - during which time we'll be paying two rents. We need to be as frugal as we can leading up to that.

Aside from the obvious ways to cut spending - no snacks or meals out, buying only when we really need something and not when we WANT something, getting clothes on consignment, reusing everything we can - I am absolutely committed to reducing our grocery spending. I know we spend more than we have to. However, I also have two priorities that I won't compromise on: buying local as much as possible and eating as healthily as possible (lots of fruit and vegetables in season). To achieve this I'm continuing to shop at the local farmers' markets (there are two great ones to choose from in the K-W area - a blog post to come) and as of yesterday I started to shop at farm gates. This is VERY easy here as many Old Order Mennonite Farms are only a 15 or 20 minute drive from my door.

I've also decided to do something else; something many people do every week and I've wanted to do for some time: make a weekly meal plan. Up until now, we decide what we're having for supper the same day that we make it. If I'm lucky, I decide the day before. This has resulted in more meals out, more trips to the grocery store and more groceries bought for full price. It also sometimes results in vegetables going rotten in the fridge when I forget what I have or buy it at the farmers' market and don't have a good plan for it. All this changes as of today.

Last night I sat down and made a meal plan for us based on what we like, what is in season, what I already had in the fridge. I didn't have any flyers in front of me. I knew I was going to the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market today and I knew what I would likely find. I expect the result of this new ritual will be a lessening of our food budget but I've decided to also set a limit on what I spend each week. I'm starting with $120 and hope to reduce it closer to $100 over time.

Here is our menu for this week:

Tonight: Brocolli strudel and corn on the cob (brocolli and corn bought at farm stands)
Wednesday night: Chicken simmered in white wine and fresh herbs (from the garden), roasted beets and potatoes
Thursday night: Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and pecorino cheese (tomatoes bought at farmers' market today)
Friday night: Homemade pizza and salad
Saturday night: tourtiere (because Rose will be here and loves it) using beef and pork and apples from market, green and yellow beans (from market)

I'll let you know how it goes and I'll likely jump back into Shan's What's Cooking Wednesday (it's been a while!) and post one of the recipes from the week. Wish me luck. I'm not sure how I'll react to this much organization!

Adios curls

Not mine. I still have them although they are definitively in the column FRIZZ instead of the column LUCIOUS CURLS. Someday when I'm rich and famous and my bed is made of $100 bills, I'll buy every de-frizzing product on the market and see which is the best for me. For now, I look like Monica on that Friends episode. The frizzy episode. You know the one.

Anywho. This isn't about me. It's about HIM.

In case you're confused, by HIM, I don't mean God.

I mean my husband. His name is John. Six foot three. Size 13 feet. Dark, curly hair.

Let's revise that. Dark hair. No longer curly.

This is due to the actions of a certain person with a razor (mentioned earlier on this blog as someone comparable to a Turkish market vendor who could likely sell you-know-what to you-know-who) who somehow convinced John that he should shave his curls in response to another certain person's hilarious (really, they were) comments about wildlife taking up residence in John's hair due to the fact that John hasn't seen a barber in oh, eons. And then, promptly after hilarious (really, I am hilarious) person made said comments, John got a weird look on his face and pulled out of his hair, no joke, a FLYING ANT that had likely been there most of the day or at least for several hours or minutes.

And now John continues to preface explanations for his lack of hair with "Well, after being the target of abuse for so long, I really had no choice....." Blah, blah, blah.

And so without further ado, please meet the newly shorn John:


If you have any nasty pots sitting around, I've now got a spare Brillo pad in the house.

Love you, man!

UPDATE: John received a question or two about his magnificent melon from the front. Brace yourselves:

Should you be worried when....

someone drives by your rental house, leans out their van window when they see you sitting on the porch, and shouts: YOU STOLE MY HOUSE! and drives off?

Okay, so I lied

I said I'd be back soon. That was a total lie. That was a full three weeks ago. Almost. My calendar arithmetic isn't great.

We have had a whirlwind three weeks. If you follow me on Twitter or you're a Facebook friend, you've had some updates along the way. And even photos. I will give a run-down, as time permits, over the next week or so.

In short, we had a great time. We spent about two weeks at the cottage (a bit more actually) and just short of a week in Toronto. Within that time I've also found myself a sort-of part-time job. Hooray! I've also found a preschool for Hope, met some new friends, got a bit of a tan, seen a lot of jungle animals, done lots of swimming, started knitting monkey slippers, killed a few mice, and played with my girls a lot.

And right now, I'm due for a really long sleep. So great to be back!

Be back soon

I realize I've been all active tweeting and FBing and have been very inactive here on the blog. As a quick update, we're housesitting in The Beach in Toronto at a house WAY nicer than ours and having a great time. So far we've:

- been out for afternoon tea at the Windsor Arms
- gone to Blackcreek Pioneer Village
- had a great breakfast with some old friends
- rode the streetcars, subway, and buses
- taken the kids for haircuts
- had ice cream
- done a bit of shopping (just in the Beach)
- eaten great food
- played at Kew playground and in the wading pool there

Tomorrow we will clean the house (a daunting job due to our insane kids and their kid-ways) and then go to the Toronto zoo before driving back to Waterloo.

A fuller post with photos will follow once we're back home.

-- Post From My iPhonei

MRI results etc

I am actually sitting in front of a real live desktop. I can blog without having to thumb out a post. It seems luxurious.

It's been a while since I've talked about what is going on with my health mystery. Last I talked of it, I gave you the low-down on having an MRI. I now have that results of that MRI and thankfully the only thing that it showed was some mild sinusitis. My neurologist's objective for the MRI was to rule out MS and the MRI indeed ruled it out. Thank God.

And then today I took the home-done Celiac test. Before I took the test (which I did exactly as the video showed), I was quite sure it would come out positive but something was inkling at me that it would be negative even though everything seemed to point in that direction.

My inkling was correct. The test was negative. No Celiac Disease.

Most people would be relieved. I wasn't. I wanted an answer. I have joint pain in my wrists every day. I still get tingling in my foot and toes and my skull and now my chin. My fatigue is still pretty severe. When it is at its worst, my eyesight isn't great. My colon seems settled thankfully. I still get pain around my liver area. In general, it sucks and there is currently no one working to find out what is causing it and no plan in place for me.

And so, as mentioned many times before, I will finally be calling in favours from my friend Andrew, surgeon extraordinaire in Toronto. I hope, hope, hope to have an answer. I'm really tired of feeling like this.

I still do wonder if it is food related in some way. The only time in the last six months when I've felt well was a period of about 3 days when I was on a very restricted diet and lots of herbs and supplements under the care of my naturopath in Ottawa. I'm thinking of doing that again... via email with her. At least that would allow me to think that something was being done. And at the very least, my body would be getting better nutrition and supplements.

Ugh. Not the best news to hear on the hottest day of the summer in an un-air-conditioned house. Grumpy all around.

Change of plans

So I decided not to go to ottawa after all. After talking to Meredith, friend extaordinaire who is looking after the whole wet basement debacle, I realized there was little I could do onsite to improve things. I don't have control over the weather. I can't regrade the entire back yard by myself, and I've already contracted someone to clean the eaves. It was the right decision.

So here we sit on the 400 trying to make our way back to Waterloo. We're stuck in traffic again. We're listening to the very bad sounds emanating from our car. If we had two incomes we'd be saying goodbye to this car. Instead we'll sink a lot of money into it to nurse it along for a few more years. Being with the girls full-time is worth driving an old car.

I could walk down the 400 faster than this.


-- Post From My iPhone

Back to Ottawa

Like so many Ottawans,we have a leaking basement. We suspect the cause is blocked eavestrophing and massive amounts of rainfall. I can't do anything about the rain but I can clean the eaves and repair the eroded area around the house.

This is not how I wanted my first visit back to go down. In and out in a whirlwind of stress, muddy leaves and shwarma. I'll likely leave tomorrow and return Friday morning.

Add to this that our car seems to be on its last legs and it makes for a really shit week.

Except for the cottage and some sun which makes it a bit better.

The next three weeks

We are all over the place the next three weeks. Here is a general itinerary:

Tomorrow: drive to the cottage (Huntsville, ON)

Weekend: enjoy time at the cottage with our good friends, Pam and Jim and their kids

Next week: at the cottage... John working here and there, me and the kids making a visit to Santa's Village (Bracebridge) and probably having a sleep over at my dad's in Gravenhurst

Next Friday: drive to Toronto

For the week following that: stay in Toronto at my friends Deb and Andrew's house in the Beach (sweet!) while they are gallivanting around Paris. During that week we plan to visit the zoo, Black Creek Pioneer Village, Ontario Science Centre, go to the beach every day, walk up and down Queen St and soak it all in, walk amongst Canada's tallest skyscrapers so the kids can see what a real big city is like (no insult attended, Ottawa), have tea (Emily and I) at the Royal York or Kind Edward as Emily's birthday present. Perhaps during that week we'll pop into our house in Waterloo to make sure everything is okily-dokily.

End of our week in Toronto: drive back to the cottage for another week wherein we will have a number of members of John's family visiting.

Phew. I'm kind of worn out just writing it down. On the other hand I am so looking forward to the adventures of the next three weeks!

I'll blog when I can but I might just be having too much fun!

How to make your own fun when it rains ALL THE TIME

I don't know if you've noticed, but it's been a bit rainy this summer.

In fact, today was the first day we saw sunshine in Waterloo for at least a week. Maybe more. And that sunshine was broken up with the occasional downpour.

So, when my two nieces were over late this afternoon while my sister-in-law was at the dentist, we just had to take advantage of the break in the weather to run around outside. We headed around the corner to Emily's new school to play at the playground. I promised popsicles on the way home.

As we got to the school we noticed two things: (1) a GIANT bee hive hanging in a tree right above our heads on a person's lawn (not to sound too sadistic but in my experience those are eradicated before they get bigger than the average person's head... right? At least, that's what I've done. On the other hand, this was high enough that the bees didn't get too annoyed by us and the girls (and I) loved watching them go in and out of their architectural marvel) and (2) the giant black cloud gathering above us.

We played for about 10 minutes before the rain started. Just a sprinkle really. Nothing to worry about. Then the downpour. We headed for shelter under the climbers. After a few minutes I realized waiting it out could have us there for another hour so I shouted: "Who wants to walk in the rain and get popsicles?!" The answer was a resounding: "I do!"

As we walked through the downpour back toward the corner store, Claire said "This is the most fun I've ever had!" That's kind of how I was feeling at that moment too. I love walking in the rain in the summer. The temperature was warm, the rain was really wet and heavy and the kids thought it was hilarious. It was one of those summer moments that we all look forward to in the depths of February.

And then Emily slipped and landed smack in a deep mud puddle right on her bum. If I'd had the camera with me I would have snapped a photo before helping her up. I'm a good mum like that.

We got our popsicles and walked home. Hope chose chocolate, no surprise there. She loves chocolate. Anything chocolate. And when it comes to popsicles, she attacks them ferociously. And if you think that would mean taking some mean bites out of them, you'd be so wrong. She licks them until they are so completely melted and falling apart that they are unrecognizable as anything but a brown sticky puddle.

And thus, this was Hope at the end of our walk today:

I think we took great advantage of the few moments of sun, don't you?

Seems I'm still on vacation

Friends, it's been a while.

I know it's been a while when Blogger doesn't even remember my sign-in anymore.

And I don't have much of an excuse. I have an iPhone. So although the kids tend to use the computer as a t.v. during times when I could actually sit down and post, I could still be crafting a post. And it isn't like I don't have things to say. We've been doing a lot; having lots of fun; I've been observing, noticing things, things I would normally post about.

And yet here I am. Silent.

I think that I just want a little break. No obligation to say anything at all. So perhaps I'll keep that up for a while, or maybe not. We'll have to see how it all unfolds.

In the meantime, here is a quick synopsis of our week at the cottage: The weather was crappy at the beginning (where is summer this year?) and then nice at the end. The girls have really figured out what it means to play on the beach this year, the result of which is that I can sit in a chair by the water, knit, drink tea or something with a bit more kick (my new drink of the summer is the Palm Bay Vodka Pineapple Orange.... mmm), and relax. Or I can get down and dirty and show them how to build a fish pond with streams connecting to other ponds.



The week with Beth, Kate and Graeme was fun. And of course Sara Martin was there too - a friend of Beth's (and now mine) who joins us every summer. That was great fun.

We roasted marshmallows twice, cooked hot dogs over a fire for lunch one day and stayed up really late in front of the fire one night hanging out with our neighbour, Guy.


We hiked up the back hill/cliff area searching for wild blueberries. Last year we hit the payload. This year, not so much. I think they deer got to them before we did.


I built Emily another obstacle course. She was keen on the idea but less on the execution. She loved it last year; this year she had other interests. But she played long enough for me to capture it on camera.


On our last night before leaving for home the girls and I (and Sara and Beth) did face masks. It was a girly-bonding moment. Until Hope freaked out and cried for 15 minutes before insisting that I take it off. Hope's was chocolate flavoured which I thought would be a big selling point for her. She smelt like a sundae for a day afterwards.


We finished our week with supper at my dad's place in Gravenhurst. His house is now almost completely finished and it's beautiful. I plan to have a sleepover there in the next few weeks with the girls. And spend my evening in the hot tub on the deck sipping something or other.

We go back to the cottage next Wednesday for a weekend with our friends Pam and Jim and their kids. That will be great. Since leaving Ottawa I haven't seen them of course so it will be a great chance to reconnect and show them a place that is as much home to me as any place else.

We also still have a visit to Santa's Village in the future on an overcast cottage day.

And that's my synopsis. Perhaps I'll get something more coherent up over the next few days. Here's hoping!

On vaca

I completely forgot to post saying we were going up to the cottage for a week or so.

It's our first visit of the year and so far it is awesome! I'll give a full report when I return home. Even with the iPhone with me, I don't plan on spending my time online.

Now back to doing nothing.


-- Post From My iPhone

Life in Waterloo - Part 1 - What the heck are Twin Cities?

One of the joys of living in a new part of the province or country or world is to compare and contrast experiences of living in that new place with what we're familiar with.

I've lived in Waterloo before but it's been a long time (eight years!). Some things are the same, some are different and I'm seeing it all now through the eyes of a parent instead of the eyes of a late twenty-something.

I've decided that I will do an occasional series called Life in Waterloo. I plan to write about our life here of course, things I discover, things I love, the ways that our lives are different because we're in a different city and different part of the province. I'll try not to make it "how Ottawa sucks and how Waterloo rules" or vice versa but that will likely happen once in a while. I'll do the same for the months that we're in Austin, Texas.

And so, on to Part 1.

We live in Waterloo. About a 5 minute walk up our street, and you hit Kitchener. I can bike to Tamara's house in 5 minutes. Tamara lives in Kitchener. I live in Waterloo. Bell Canada and Canada Post list us as living in Waterloo. Onstar and the Globe and Mail list us as living in Kitchener. (They're wrong.) Other people list us as Kitchener-Waterloo. That's because Kitchener-Waterloo (also known as K-W) are twin cities. It should really be conjoined twin cities. You can't tell where one starts and the other begins save for the small signs that say in various ways "you are now entering the historic village of Waterloo 1857" or "City of Kitchener 1916" in a small nondescript sign posted above the parking regulations (yes, they could be different in each city).


My favourite one is on King Street and says in a tall, vertical sign from the 1940s or so "City of Waterloo".


There are two municipal governments, two hydro companies, two library systems, two distinct downtowns (although both are located along King Street and Waterloo affectionately refers to its downtown as Uptown Waterloo). There are two of many things. It does seem ridiculous to those who don't live here or haven't lived here in a long time. It's hard to explain if you haven't been here and can't picture it. They were once two distinct villages that grew together as the villages grew. Now it is one large(ish) urban area that is still two cities.

There was talk at one time of amalgamating but nothing came of it. And so they remain conjoined twins with people living in working as though they were one. Until you have to deal with government or phone companies or hydro or swimming pools or community centres (if you live in Waterloo and want to take swimming lessons a few streets over at a Kitchener pool you have to pay an extra $25 a year). Then it matters.

It all adds to the odd character of this town/town that I love.

Contest Update

We're on Day 3 here and so far we haven't made a trip to a toy store. Emily almost succeeded on the first day but ended up flipping out at the pool at Greg and Tamara's house (it's too cold! I don't like it here! I don't want to get out!). I knew yesterday would be a write-off when she appeared at 6:30 beside our bed and promptly burst into tears.

However today is a new day! I have a good feeling about today.

This is the happy one:

The contest

No, not that contest! This is a family-rated blog (most of the time, minus some gritty language now and again).

The contest is this: I've challenged Emily to go for a full day - from when she wakes up to when she goes to bed - without crying. Crying due to getting hurt is allowed. All other crying is not - because your ice cream isn't a perfectly round mound on your cone, because Mummy isn't walking up the stairs directly behind you, because Hope isn't scared to go on the swing when you are, because you can't draw a perfect house - all of that is NOT ALLOWED. And mostly it is not allowed because if there is crying for any of those reasons or equally inane ones anymore this week/month/year, Mummy will throw herself in front of a moving train.

The contest is really a challenge to keep Mummy from moving into the woods and living like a hermit. And loving it.

The prize is any toy Emily chooses the day after she succeeds. If she fails (and I KNOW she will fail during the first few tries), she gets to start fresh the next morning. She seemed keen and I even caught her stopping herself from crying when she had to say goodnight to me without having me actually put her in her bed.

I honestly have no idea what has got into her the last couple of months. I can't blame it entirely on the move or school ending (although having those two things happen simultaneously was unfortunate). For now I'm blaming it on being 4, almost 5. And 4, almost 5, sucks. It really sucks. At least if you're the parent of the 4, almost 5.

I think there are crazy emotions running rampant, unchecked, having a grand old party in there with no one telling them to TURN DOWN THE G.D. MUSIC or STOP USING MY CANNING FUNNEL AS A BONG or THAT'S THE NEIGHBOUR'S DOG, FOR GOD'S SAKE!

And Emily is no match for that.

I do feel for her. I also feel for me. Hopefully The Contest will have a happy conclusion and at the very least, a little less crying. I'd go for even 10% less.

A test

-- Post From My iPhone


Trying posting from my new iPhone. So far eating up intended jam making time. Not for people with sausage fingers.

Me eating cake this evening.

Update: I just noticed that under my arm in the photo is tiny Aisha's face, swaddled and in the cradle. Don't miss checking her out. She's beautiful.

Calgon couldn't even touch this

I feel like there is a lot I need to write here but I'm not sure where to begin. I expect this post will be all over the place with no real plot line, no thesis, no conclusion. A sure D paper.

The house is mostly put together. There are still a few stray boxes - some winter clothes, one box of toys, a box of DVDs, but mostly everything is unpacked. As we've been really living here the last few days we've made a few discoveries, mostly appliance-related; the oven was 200 degrees off (running way too cool); the washing machine doesn't work; the fridge has a broken gasket; the toilet on the main floor runs; many, many windows don't open; many, many screens on the windows are missing or torn; and there are a few other, smaller things.

It sounds like the place is a money pit (which I guess it is for the owner) and it was a bad decision to live here. But actually, I love this house. It has a ton of character, lots and lots and lots of yard space, huge windows. And the property manager is on top of all the things that have to be fixed (the stove is already fixed). I think we're going to love it here.

What I'm not loving so much right now is Emily's behaviour. In a couple of words, she's totally brutal. I actually can't stand to be around her right now. I know that she's having some trouble adjusting to our change but her level of anger, frustration and downright sourpuss-ness is becoming intolerable. If there were a circus going through town, I might be lining up to sign her up for world's shortest woman.

On a brighter note, we went strawberry picking this morning at a great farm in Wilmot, where I've bought produce before (really, they're known for their corn). It was lovely and I plan to spend tonight making jam. The girls were great during picking and had lots of fun. I won't get into the events that followed but it did almost push me to have an 11:00 glass of wine.

On an even brighter note, my great friend Tamara (she and Greg are our close friends - along with Paul and Marnie - here in town) had her second baby on July 4. Her name is Aisha and she's lovely (of course). We're very excited that we're here to help out.

John is out right now buying us an iPhone. I'm pretty excited about exploring the iPhone Apps. It will put my little Kyocera to much shame.

My next project for tomorrow, aside from having the handyman in to fix all the remaing house issues, is to dig garden beds, weed the existing ones and then go to the garden centre. For my own sanity, I might do that during an evening when I don't have to take any children with me.

This afternoon will end, hopefully, with me sitting near Greg and Tamara's kid pool, sipping wine, while the girls play in the pool, watched by their father and ignored by me.

We're here and we're tired

It's been an exhausting couple of days but the house is actually starting to come together. Eventually I'll post some photos once we acquire a bit more furniture (we're going to Generations this afternoon to look for some used stuff - Generations is the Mennonite equivalent to Salvation Army stores).

Hope is taking this all in a stride, as long as someone is there to give her hugs and play with her once in a while. Emily, the older, isn't dealing with it so well, which is what I expected to happen eventually. She's perpetually grumpy. She's told me a few times that she doesn't like the house, doesn't like Kitchener, wants to go home. Totally normal but I still feel bad that she's unhappy. I know that she'll get to like it and it will just take time. I think tomorrow I'll have to find something fun and unrelated to packing to do together. Perhaps a trip to Waterloo Park to see the animals and play at the multiple playgrounds will do the trick.

And of course, I need a shower. No joke, I wore the same shirt for more than 24 hours straight. And proud of it.

I'll check back in later now that we have access.

The fat lady is getting on the stage

It's almost over, folks. The big move, also known around here as the big headache, is reaching it's peak and I can see the other side.

The house is packed up. Tomorrow morning, we're dropping the kids at Pam and Jim's and going to pick up the Uhaul truck. Then we load. Okay, the guys load while I clean. Nothing like fulfilling gender stereotypes, eh?

We unsure if all our stuff will fit in the size of truck we booked. We have a lot of stuff. Too much. How did we get so much stuff. The reality is that we're moving more furniture than we intended because we're going into a completely unfurnished house. Most likely we'll be making some decisions in the driveway about leaving some things behind that we intended to take. We've already given away our really terrible dining room chairs and it's possible we'll leave the table at the side of the road as well. We may be eating picnic-style for a while.

Postings for the next two days will be sporadic but I should be up and running again by Thursday.

Oh, and as an aside, I had my MRI tonight or what I like to call my entry into the giant donut. That really is what it feels like; like you are entering the donut hole except there is much louder noises than at the standard Tim Hortons. All in all, it was fine and I don't really expect them to find anything which in my opinion is a good thing when it comes to MRIs of the head and neck.

Night all. I need some quality sleep before the big move tomorrow. Think of us and pray that our marriage comes out intact! (So far, so good.)

The medical system must read my blog

because after I wrote my post yesterday, I called the Queensway-Carleton Hospital to ask about getting a quick MRI (not expecting it to happen, of course). But they did it! I have an MRI at 11:00 pm on Monday night! I was flabbergasted. I'm beginning to think wait times are long for those who don't complain a lot.

Anyway, so that will be done before we go. Now I just hope that it doesn't show anything and we can move onto another test. I'll be having the Celiac blood test at the end of August. I could have it anytime but I have to have had gluten back in my system for two months for it to be accurate.

Yesterday, my good friend Pam came over with her kids. The kids all entertained each other while Pam and I did some packing and cleaning. After lunch we headed over to our nearest city pool. The kids tolerated the bit of rain and had a great time splashing around. I'm going to take my girls back today after I get some more packing done.

Last night Julie also came over to help me pack. I had great plans that we would tackle the remaining storage area. Unfortunately, about 40 minutes before she was due to arrive, the power went out in our area. Julie still came expecting it to be back on shortly. No such luck. It remained out until John and I went to bed around 10:00 or so. I actually have no idea what time it was since all our clocks are reliant on electricity. John did wander over to the corner where the Hyrdo guys were working on.... stuff. They told him the thunderstorm had caused the damage to a box in our area and they were trying to figure out where the problem was. It was the longest power outage we've had in this house. Bad timing for packing in the basement, but I do love me a blackout.

Time for some coffee, a shower and some serious packing. The basement, scary as it is, is calling me.

WHAT day is it?

Seriously, it's Friday??! My house still looks like we're at the beginning of a move, not an end. Which scares me silly. There is still so much to do and not a lot of time left. John picks up the moving truck on Tuesday morning. And I have two kids at home with me. One of which had her last day of school yesterday. Here is Emily on her first day of school in September:


And here she is yesterday:

Certainly, her hair has grown. And she does look a lot more "grown up" to me.

I have to mention quickly again how great this year was for Emily. And on her year end report, there wasn't one area that needed work or that was of concern. I think her enthusiasm for school is reflected in how she did this year. And, thankfully, she wasn't tearful yesterday about it being her last day, even knowing that she won't be at her school or with Mrs. B next year. She knows she'll be in a new place and a new school with all new kids and so far, she's okay with that.

Last night was her t-ball dinner celebrating the end of the season. She got her trophy and photo and was thrilled beyond belief. I can't say enough great things about the Gloucester South Youth Softball League. It was an amazing experience (after the rough start for Emily - no fault of theirs). The people were great and it was lots of fun. Hope will definitely be doing t-ball with them when we return to Ottawa. The best photo of last night was not Emily getting her trophy or playing with her t-ball friends for the last time, but this one captured by John:


Just awesome.

And now, for my last disjointed paragraph (maybe).... last night I finally heard back from my neurologist's office. Wait, I have to back up a bit because I never did write about the latest in this ongoing saga. Last week (or was it two weeks ago now), I found out that the neurologist's office had sent our old phone number to the MRI people so that when they phoned, the phone number wasn't in service so the hospital cancelled the request and just left it alone, never calling the neuro's office to inform them. Now, given how busy the radiology departments of our hospitals are, I can't really blame them. I can definitely blame the neuro's office given that they've called me a few times on my current number and the old number is scratched out on my file, which by the way was disconnected well over a year ago. Anywho. If you're not in Canada, this may not seem like a big deal, but here (at least in Ottawa) a wait for an MRI can be up to six months or more, so I'm told. But, here I was having been given the opportunity to have an MRI within 4 weeks of the request being made and I missed the opportunity because someone stupid sent the wrong phone number to the hospital. I was irate. I was in tears. I left some angry messages with the neuro's office.

Last night, they informed me they were sorry. At least there's that. And that they put in a new referral on June 15 and I'm to call the hospital this morning to see if there is any way I can get an MRI by Tuesday (HAH!). If that doesn't work (and I don't expect it to), I'm to call the neuro from Waterloo and give them the number of an MRI clinic or hospital there and they'll send the referral there. At least that's something. I try hard not to dwell on the fact that the MRI would be done by now (by a full month) if they hadn't screwed up in the first place.

Welcome to human error in health care.

New York Day 3: Prospect Park, Park Slope and the Empire State Building

This morning John and I got up early (well, early for vacation) at 7:30 and went out for a highly anticipated breakfast at Tom's Restaurant. We got to the front door of Tom's only to find it closed on Sundays. Of course. So, we headed toward Park Slope (a neighbourhood of Brooklyn) and found a diner with a decent hash and good eggs benedict.

From there, we wandered through Prospect Park, the little sister (although some say superior) of Central Park, designed also by Olmstead and partner. You likely recognize the arch below from the drop-off scene in When Harry Met Sally.

After spending lots of time in the park, we wandered through Park Slope (home to many artists, writers, and stroller pushing yuppies). There were some pretty cool shops and one awesome bakery, Brooklyn Bread Cafe. It was by far the best coffee we've tasted in New York and the best baking I've seen so far. Everything is baked on premises. The bagels were literally as big as my head. I was very pleased to find amazing pastries and cookies. I couldn't help myself... I bought John and myself two black and white cookies, the famous NY cookies that made Jerry barf. They were so good. These ones had a lemony cakey cookie underneath rather than a plain vanilla and oh, they were heaven.

We kept making our way by foot over to Brooklyn Heights. The area between downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights had some really eclectic shops that we poked around in. We wandered some of the streets in Brooklyn Heights marvelling at the brownstones. These houses were the ones you see in pictures.

I left John to go see the Brooklyn Historical Society Museum while I went into Manhattan to go up the Empire State Building with Beth, Graeme and Kate.

We expected long lines since the rain had cleared up. Instead of long lines, we just found a series of shorter lines. You get through one line and then have to stand in another one for the next phase of getting up to the Observation Decks. And of course, they funnel you through as many buying opportunities as possible. There was a lot of hawking going on. It got a bit stomach-turning. However, the views were worth it.

From there, we went to Bryant Park so Kate could run around a bit. Beth and I sat and drank our Starbucks before we all headed to Grand Central Station (with a quick stop for me to buy my roasted cashews, almonds and peanuts at a Nuts for Nuts cart - my favourite NY street food, although the Halal carts were pretty tempting too). I tried to get some good photos of Grand Central but that was impossible with my shitty camera.

We ordered in Thai for supper and had plans to hit a bar tonight but John and I are spent and plan to chill here before heading to the airport tomorrow.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the girls but would also love one more day to see just a bit more.

New York Day 2: rain, sore feet and blog the chicken

John just gave me the instruction that I have to blog the chicken. I'll get to that in a bit. Here's a run-down of our day.

We slept in. We blissfully slept in. Until 9:15! We ate a quick brekkie here and then headed into Manhattan. John and I searched out the Strand Bookstore and spent some money. John bought academic stuff and I bought one thing for me and a bunch of stuff for the girls. I bought an awesome book bag that I plan to replace the 5-year old diaper bag with.

My stomach was needing filling by then so we walked up to Little Korea, first walking through the Union Square Green Market area (a farmer's market) that had a wonderful aroma of fresh onions and tent after tent of produce, flowers, salsas, honey etc, and had a great lunch in Little Korea. We balked at the price of the egg pancake. In Ottawa it's $9 or so. In Manhattan, $17. Ouch. But, we're on vacation so we ordered what we wanted and really enjoyed it.

Today was very rainy. And so we declared it a museum day. We took the subway up to Museum Mile and met Beth, Graeme and Kate in front of the Guggenheim Museum. The line was too long for Kate so they headed to the Central Park Zoo instead. John and I went into the Guggenheim and saw the current Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit (as well as all the others). Wow, that is a great museum. We loved it. Museum fatigue set in near the end. It was time to move on.

We walked through Central Park, hoping to spot Beth and Graeme (our cell phone had no power so our only chance to meet up was to spot them. Needless to say, that didn't happen. I mean, this isn't a Seinfeld episode after all). We walked, walked, walked, until we left the south end of the Park. We desperately sought out a Starbucks to rest our weary feet. We perused our books, drank our coffee/tea and then I headed back out to tackle FAO Schwarz, the big toy store made famous by the movie Big. Right in front of FAO Schwarz was a large glass cube that proved once and for all why Apple is just way cooler than PC.

I found one gift I was looking for but nothing else. Wearily, I headed back to the meeting spot and John and I trained it back to Brooklyn.

On the walk back to the apartment, we picked up some of the AMAZING chicken that seems to be roasted daily on the sidewalk (in a bbq/smoker) in front of one of the many Caribbean restaurants in the area. For $8 you get a huge serving of chicken pieces. Beth and Graeme were already back here eating their own chicken and some pumpkin roti. We tucked in and came out the other side with mouths on fire and raving about the chicken and roti. I expect we'll have more of the same tomorrow. It was great and we like eating the neighbourhood specialty.

Now for a bit more wine and to rest my still-weary feet.

Day 1 down: Brooklyn Bridge and LES

Wow, we had a great afternoon. After Beth and Graeme got to the apartment, we hung about for a bit and then we started walking. We walked and walked and walked some more, eventually ending up in Brooklyn Heights, a really nice neighbourhood of leafy streets lined with beautiful brownstones. We had some ice cream under the Brooklyn Bridge, found a park for Kate to play at and then we left that threesome behind while John and I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. We decided it's something everyone should do at some point in their lives. The lines of the cables and the stone arches were beautiful, not to mention the Manhattan skyline. The bridge was filled with people on their way home from work in Manhattan or tourists like us. Every hundred meters or so was someone selling water out of a cooler. It was a warm walk over that bridge.

Once on the other side, John and I sat by City Hall Park and watched a bunch of guys break-dancing. After that we just walked around lower Manhattan, stopped for a drink, took in the World Trade Center site and then after more walking we headed back to Brooklyn. We had dinner at a great Indian restaurant near the apartment, filled ourselves for $35 and now we're chilling with Beth and Graeme in our ultra-cool apartment.

We're in New York!

We just arrived and we're in our apartment. It's really nice... the basement apartment of a typical Brooklyn brownstone. It is decorated in French style, I'd say. The owner, Krista, left us a bottle of local NJ wine, some locally roasted coffee beans (Gorilla) and some homemade banana bread. Wow.

We're waiting for Beth, Graeme and Kate at this point. I don't know where they are. They should be here by now but when you don't know the subway system, getting to Brooklyn would be a major challenge. It would be for me.

When we arrived we spent a long time walking (in the wrong direction) looking for something to eat. We finally found a pizza place that wasn't too seedy and realized then that we'd headed the not-so-nice way when we left the cab. Lesson: always consult the guidebook before setting out on foot.

On our way to the Big Apple

And why do they call it that by the way? I'll have to look it up in the old guidebook.

Yesterday afternoon, arriving late last night, we drove to Omi's in St. Catharines. We're spending the day here today and then John and I are flying to New York from Buffalo tomorrow morning, leaving the girls with Omi. We're all very excited, John and I about a weekend together in New York, the girls about staying with Omi on their own for the weekend.

John and I decided to do this a long time ago to celebrate our 10th anniversary which comes around in October. Beth and Graeme (my sister and her husband) celebrate their 10th this year too (in March) and so we decided to meet there for a weekend without kids.

It isn't working out quite that way. If you want to read why, read this entry in Beth's blog. Let the lesson be this: if you're traveling, make sure you check your passport a dozen times before leaving just to be sure it's valid. Poor Beth. Oh well, at least she'll get to see New York.

Today we're going to take the girls to see Niagara Falls. For me, it was such a regular part of my life growing up that I didn't really think about taking them to see it until now. Also, most of our trips to Niagara are filled with family visits so there really hasn't been time. With Emily at the age she is now, I think she'll really be wowed by it. And if there's time, we'll go to the Butterfly Conservatory as well.

It should be a good start to an amazing weekend.

Phase One of The Move

Today a truck arrives around 12:00 to pick up the stuff we want to put in storage. This move thing is for real! You'd think that the house would look more organized or at least packed.

Actually, the stuff for storage is pretty well packed. This morning I still want to go through the laundry room/tool area and organize that but if I don't get to it and there is a box or two to go into storage I can always take that over another time.

The house really does look like it has been ransacked. I'm learning to live with it though. And so are the kids. In fact, they're finding treasures long forgotten that are migrating around the house adding to the chaos. My motto now is Embrace It!

Well, given what's going on today, I better get this day started!

John's birthday in pictures

I'm not going to give you the play-by-play of the big birthday bash. I'll save you that. However, I will give you a bulleted edition and then give you a bunch of photos, courtesy Jim, who is the best photographer I know.

The party was awesome! It was everything I hoped for. I wish I could have changed one thing though: I arrived after John! I know. Duh. But, sometimes things are out of your control when you have two kids in the back seat. Oh well. If that was all that went wrong, it was a good day. The highlights were:

• all of our good friends in one place
• the perfect weather - overcast but warm therefore no worries about getting overheated or sunstroke
• swimming in the cold lake - my kids loved that. Some of the other kids were a bit smarter.
• John taking the kids for rides in the inflatable dingy
• Dawn's leaches (okay, not so great but funny when you look back on it. Not for Dawn probably).
• Great food (pat on the back to me)
• A well-decorated cake and extremely tasty I'm told. It was carrot with cream cheese icing.
  
• The kids playing with all the bubbles.
• how well all the kids played together regardless of age or if they had met before.
• lots of laughs.
• John being surprised by who was there.
• no one getting lost.
• At the end, wishing we could start back at the beginning and do it all again.

And now for the photos.....

Finally, I can blog about this!

It's 8:02 AM and John has been golfing for the last hour. Since I know he won't be reading my blog at all today I finally have a chance to talk about what we're doing today. But first some background:

John is turning 40. Yipes!

His actual birthday is June 18 but today I'm throwing him a not-so-surprising-surprise-party. It was supposed to be a traditional surprise party but I had to tell him what was going on when he announced he would likely be at graduation today (turns out he had the date wrong). And then he asked if it would be like a wedding where he could golf first before the big event. Another surprise gone.

However, he thinks that it will only be the usual four families. He doesn't know that it will be his brother's family, Pam/Jim and company, and our friends Dawn/John and Emily. So at least there is one surprise left.

This whole thing is going down at Pete and Julie's cottage in Perth. I am going to owe them so big after this.

I've made a lot A LOT of food - homemade hamburgers, great sausages from my favourite Ottawa sausage place, a huge whack of potato salad, and a very large carrot cake (decorated quite well, although not SHANNON-well). Others are helping me out by bringing fruit and vegetable trays and cupcakes for the kiddies.

I hope the weather holds. I think it will. I also think it will be a great day although probably seriously chaotic with 9 children and 14 adults. Pictures to come later!

Why every Mennonite loves relief sales

I meant to get this post up soon after my house-hunting trip to Kitchener but here I am two weeks later and still. not. done. Much like everything else going on lately, it is being done half-assed.

But I still think it's worth talking about Mennonite relief sales. These things, particularly the one held every year in New Hamburg (known around Ontario just as The Relief Sale), is a bit of a mecca for anyone of the Mennonite persuasion. There are three main foci to The Relief Sale: raising money for Mennonite Central Committee programs (ie relief programs around the world for anyone in need) and every cent raised at The Relief Sale goes to these programs, the quilt auction (Mennonites and quilts together? who knew?), and food, food, food. Did I mention food? Cuz there is lots of food. Lots of fried, smoked, bad for you but oh, so good, food. All those tents below, are mainly food tents. Different Mennonite churches from around southern and south-western Ontario run tents making one specialty each.



Mennonite food, particularly Russian Mennonite, which is what is mainly represented at The Relief Sale, is mainly variations of fried bread. This is due to the fact that Mennonites in Russia were poor for a really long time and had to make do with what they had. So, we've got rollkuchen (fried twisted dough great with watermelon), tea balls (kind of like timbits but better), donuts, cream buns and then the non-fried realm of pies. And then there is meat of course. Lots and lots of meat. Elias was into the donuts.


Of course, if you think Mennonites are only European in origin, you'd be wrong. One of the most popular food items in recent years is made by the Laotian Mennonite Church. They make the best spring rolls and the line-up proves it.

At The Relief Sale, the most popular item has to be the fresh strawberry pies. My new favourite this year was the barbecued chicken (real barbecue... smoked for a long time. So good). I saw the smoker below (and smelled it) immediately and knew I had to taste whatever was going to come out of it. I was not disappointed.


We popped into the quilt auction (to get in the strawberry pie line - see second picture below) and then visited several food tents and the Ten Thousand Villages tent for me to buy teacher gifts.



And that was pretty much how we spent our time. Oh, there is one other thing everyone does at The Relief Sale: talk to other Mennonites that they haven't seen in a while. When arriving at The Relief Sale there are always bets traded on who will see the most people they know. It's kind of The Relief Sale edition of The Mennonite Game.

I was really happy to be there this year and will definitely be there, family in tow, next year too. Even just for the barbecued chicken.

And so, that was our morning at The Relief Sale.

It's official

We signed the lease and sent it to the property manager yesterday. It's all done now. The house is ours. We won't be homeless when we arrive in Waterloo. Good news!

Now onto the really fun stuff: packing. Ugh, how I loathe packing. I have several boxes done already. I have a few more I can do and then most of the rest of them will have to wait until just before we go.

Right now my head is more focussed on New York City, baby! In eight days we drive to St. Catharines to drop the girls off at Omi's for the weekend and then on June 19 we fly to NYC from Buffalo. I bought some new sandals, primed for a lot of walking, for the trip.

I hope my legs are up to it! With all this possible Celiac/whatever is going on with me, my legs have a feeling of constant fatigue although the muscle strength is really good... it's strange. Anyway, hopefully my appointment with a GI on June 17 will help explain some of this. It will likely be no bagels for me in NY. So sad.

Mom Central is now in Canada!

I've been a participating blogger with Mom Central for a while now. I've loved the opportunities to review new products and be compensated with some great gift certificates. The staff there is very professional and great to work with. I've been given ample opportunities to review products. However I'm able to respond to probably 50% of them at best. I've ruminated before that too many of the campaigns aren't relevant to Canadians, the products aren't available here, or the contests are open to us.

That has all changed!

Mom Central has come to Canada. This means that the campaigns sent to those of us who have signed up with Mom Central are now purely focussed on Canadians and Canadian bloggers. Here is some more information about Mom Central:

• Mom Central is a one-stop online resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions.

• As our founder Stacy DeBroff puts it, "I wanted to create a resource for busy Moms - a place where Moms can trust they'll find helpful information they need to make their lives easier."

• At Mom Central, you'll find information on everything from toddler toys and baby-proofing to household finances and green living.

But here is the very best part for Canadian bloggers: The Mom Central Testing Panel! This is where Moms get to test out the latest and greatest products and services and have their voices heard by companies who care about their opinion. Moms can get involved today by clicking here to register for the Canadian Mom Central Testing Panel. AND If you sign-up during the month of June, you'll be entered into the draw to win 1 of 5 Canon PowerShot cameras.

As a Mom Central Blogger, I've been given a $20 Amazon gift certificate for telling you all about it.

It's ours! (although really I hesitate to say that until the signed lease is in hand)

I got a call yesterday afternoon from Joan, the property manager of the house we so desperately wanted. The owner was "very happy" with our application and asked Joan to draw up a lease for us. So barring anything unforeseen (and I'm always expecting something unforeseen) we should be living in this house as of July 1:


The house has five bedrooms. Five! And it's not because a previous owner split normal-sized bedrooms into tiny bedrooms. These are five regular sized bedrooms (for an older house). That means John will have an office, the girls will have a dedicated playroom, they'll share a bedroom (Emily is thrilled with the idea of a bunkbed), we'll have our room and we'll have a guest room. We've never had a guest room before! Living the high life I tell you.

Aside from all the space inside, the best part of this house is the location. It is a 10-minute walk to Emily's school, a 15-minute walk to Tamara and Greg's house, a 15-minute walk to Uptown Waterloo, a fairly short walk to my friend Marnie's house, and a good nursery school is only about 10 minutes away.

And there is a small fenced yard. A yard begging for a climber, a water table and a sand box. And some tomato plants, lettuce and beans. Hurrah!

And now just to have the lease in hand.