Austin Days 2 and 3

Yesterday, Day 2, was all about hooping, hula hooping that is. In the morning after brekkie we walked over to the local bakery, Quarks, and got treats before heading to the local park. I did my usual, chatting with friendly local Austin parents. In the afternoon while the boys slept, Beth, Kate and I hooped. I still have some skills but now there are tricks! And lasso moves! And twirls! And booty bumps! On my list of to-dos when I get home is to build 3 hoops for the girls and me.

Beth arranged a babysitter from 5:00 to 7:00 so we could go out for happy hour. We went to a great Mexican place that we biked to where we had Mexican martinis that had a jalepeno stuffed inside the olive, jicama sticks, incredible chicken wings, grilled cactus and lots of other taste sensations.

Today was THE BIG DAY. Beth and I were in front of the computer at 5:00 watching Kate and Wills tie the knot while scrutinizing the fashion choices made by the guests. Biggest fashion criminal was Princess Beatrice with her antelope fascinator.

After the wedding we dropped Kate at preschool and walked along dried-up Shoal Creek. We stopped at my favorite Austin bookstore, Book People, where I bought several gifts to take home and then made one more stop at Whole Earth Provision, my other favorite Austin store before heading back to get Kate.

Thus afternoon was chillaxin and trying to make it to supper without passing out due to exhaustion.

Beth's friend Laura Sue (Kate's surrogate grandmother) joined us for dinner at Julio's for Amazing roast chicken and wickedly strong Mexican martinis. Needless, there was a lot of loud talking and laughing. Henry dumped a glass of ice water in my crotch and I didn't flinch. I was feeling that good.

Tomorrow: swimming and a pizza party?

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Austin Day 1

I won't go into my travel day to Austin. As usual it was riddled with flight delays and a baby unwilling to nap on the plane. However, Henry remained in a great mood throughout and entertained everyone around him on the flight. And due to a long delay in Chicago I got a workout in as I walked every concourse multiple times. If you know that airport, you know that means I had some serious time on my hands.

Yesterday was my first full day here. Kate went to preschool for the morning while Beth and I and the two boys hung out around home. We washed the car, got the boys to nap and went and picked up a minivan for the week. The rest of the day was playing around home. In the evening we went for a walk to the Intramural Fields with the dog after all the kiddies were asleep.

Today we plan to take the kids to the library by bike and go to Happy Hour sans kids later. That will likely be my favorite part of today.

And for all those of you in the great white north, it was 34 degrees C here yesterday. Heh heh.


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The impetus I needed

Participating in Andrea's Photo An Hour game yesterday got me back in the blogging habit for twelve hours or so or at least reminded me how much I enjoy it and need to get back in the habit on a more permanent basis. It also showed me that I can get used to posting through Blogpress on my iPhone if that's the only way I can get posts up frequently. Although I also find that my writing isn't quite as poetic when I'm thumbing. Must be all the cramping and the perpetually sticky screen.

Today I have a very long list of "to-do's" because tomorrow Henry and I are flying TO TEXAS! Oh yes we are!

So of course at the top of my list to do today is:













Not packing, laundry or shopping. Oh no. It's making strawberry jam. I've had two batches of crushed berries in the freezer from our spring picking last year in Waterloo since.... well, since our spring picking. We ran out of jam this week causing a fairly large meltdown from Hope over jamless bagel and so this is priority number one today.

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Hourly Photo Project, Easter Sunday 2011

I'm participating in the Fishbowl's Hourly Photo Project today. I'll be taking a photo at the top of the hour all day long of whatever I, or we, happen to be doing at the time.

6:00 a.m. First order of business



7:00 Shower time


8:00 am


9:00. Arriving at church for Easter breakfast


10:00 waiting for church to begin


11:00. Church about to begin


12:00. Post-service



1:00 pm. Teatime



2:00 pm. Emily shows me her wiggly tooth



3:00. Hope's Easter ensemble. It's always an event when she gets dressed.



4:00. All set



5:00 pm



7:00


7:30.... and look what happened! (this deserved a half-hour photo)



8:00

9:00 Forgotten eggs


10:00



11:00


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Thumbing

I really don't like blogging from my phone but I've come to the realization that if I don't post from my phone, I don't really post at all. And so here I am, thumbing away while Henry plays with my necklace on the floor and I make all kinds of typos. I need an iPad. My birthday is in 3 weeks. Just sayin'.

I have a few Powys that have to get up here: a few stories from my time in Edmonton, a post on the course I just finished, another one about Henry and maybe one about the baking business.

But right now Henry has lost all interest in my necklace and my thumbs are getting tired.


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Heading West

I got word on Monday morning during my class at Carleton that my grandmother - my dad's mum - died on Sunday night. My grandma was 88 and not in good health. She'd had Alzheimer's Disease for about 7 years. I'm glad her suffering is over.

I lived with my grandma and grandpa for 4 months from September to December 1995. I was on a work-term from my program at the University of Waterloo. I was working at the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. My grandparents lived in Sherwood Park, Alberta - a very short commute into Edmonton. It was a great four months. I got to know my grandparents so much better and I spent a lot of time - mainly laughing, eating pretzels and playing cards - with my uncle and aunt at their house which was a short bike ride away. I was really lucky to have had the opportunity to spend that kind of time with my grandparents. I heard a lot of stories from both of them that I hadn't heard before. I helped Grandma in the kitchen. We talked a lot. My favourite stories from Grandma were about living in Saskatchewan during the Depression. She told me about men coming to the back door asking for food after hopping off the nearby trains. She also told me about she and her brother, Uncle Bob and her dad riding bikes around all the country roads on Sunday afternoon. She told me about her very grumpy grandmother who she never saw smile. Grandma laughed a lot. She was almost always knitting something. She loved to travel. She said that maybe growing up by the railway tracks gave her "itchy feet."

She didn't always have the easiest life but she greeted each day smiling. She made the best bread. She made an amazing beef stew with dumplings. She had a killer recipe for cappuccino muffins. She was particular about how the dishwasher was loaded. (Terrible photo below but all I can dig up at short notice.)


I'm looking forward to talking about her next week with everyone and hearing other people's stories.

I have to admit, I'm not looking forward to a two-hour time change with a baby. Five a.m. is going to come very early.

As an aside, I will be the one on the WestJet flight hauling a full case of Girl Guide cookies as my carry-on. My family out west has demanded that I bring a case for them to buy, which I think is amazing, and also very very funny. We Reyburns really like our baked goods.

The Sugarplum Fairy dons a bunny suit

I've decided to branch out of being a one-season Fairy and try my hand wooden spoon at the Easter Season.

I have updated my Sugarplum Fairy blog. If you are in the Ottawa area and are itching for some homebaking (gluten-free available now as well!), please contact me! All my particulars are on The Sugarplum Fairy Homebaking site.

What recipes do you think of when you think of Easter? I find everyone has different opinions on this and I would love to hear about your Easter baking traditions (and possibly glean some ideas from them!).

The March Break I'd rather forget

My last post was so full of naive optimism. Since then I have become a dark and brooding soul, ripe with cynicism, dark humour and biting sarcasm.

At least in theory. Truth is, I'm still my peppy and perky self. Now that March Break, otherwise known as The Week I'd Rather Forget, is over.

To backtrack, we decided to go to my dad's in Gravenhurst - about 4 hours from Ottawa - from Tuesday to Friday last week. We got out of town about an hour later than we would have liked... which was fully expected because we always get out of town an hour later than we would have liked.

The kids were asking to watch videos literally 2 kilometres from our driveway. I should have known then that this would become The Trip from Hell. We should have turned around at that very moment.

We stopped seven times - yes, seven - on the way there banking a 6.5 hour trip. We stopped twice to feed Henry, once for lunch, twice because Hope thought she was going to throw up, once because I drank too much tea, and another time for who knows why. Henry did not sleep ONCE during the trip. We had to completely reorganize seating because Hope's tummy was very jumbly in the back. WARNING, WARNING! Did we turn back for home? Nope. Did John say outloud "I forsee this being a total disaster" and I say "you are such a glass half-empty person!"? Yes and yes. Was that the foreshadowing that had this been a movie would have left the audience screaming DON'T GO IN THERE at the screen? Oh yes it was.

We finally get to the bumpy, curvy road going into my dad's house. (FORESHADOWING, FORESHADOWING!) We're literally 500 metres from his door when Hope's face turns white and then green and then she projectile vomits all over herself, her car seat and bits of the car. We had about 3 seconds warning which was enough time to stop the car and watch helplessly as she showered herself in Wendy's french fries and ketchup. Luckily, I thought, no one ever drives on this road so it's okay that we're completely blocking this single-lane road. Oh Sweet Jesus, will I ever learn?

That's when man-in-Oldsmobile drove up behind us.

As I'm holding vomit-covered Hope in front of me at arm's length, I'm simultaneously explaining to man-in-Oldsmobile that one of our children just upchucked all over herself.

The look on his face was a cross between disgust and pity.

I stripped Hope down to her underwear and she sat on my lap in the front seat until we got to my dad's door. Emily, always looking for the up side (her mother's daughter) said: "Hope you're so lucky!" I'm thinking Hope wasn't feeling so lucky at that moment as liquid lunch dripped off her chin. I'm all about the visuals, people.

Arriving at the house, Hope went straight into the shower, washing away all the bad mojo we'd accumulated on the drive up. Time to start fresh! Right? Right?

Wrong.

That night Henry was up SEVEN times. The next day Hope whined all day and then puked at the end of the day at which point we realized she wasn't car sick, she was just plain sick. John threw his back out. He is still walking crooked. Hope declared her bed "not comfy" (a declaration I heard way too many times that week from her) and Emily moved into bed with me, John moved to the futon, Hope moved to the bed Emily was in. I got up 6 times that night and the rest of the night I was serenaded with Emily's teeth-grinding. Henry scraped his knuckles to bloody on the sides of his playpen simply because it made a cool sound (so he tells me). On the plus side, I baked bread in the stone bake oven which was really fun and we went in the hot tub on the deck many times. Donna even served me a glass of wine while I was in there at one point (alone!). I think that was the highlight of the week for me.

The next day was the good day: tobogganing (no one puked! Hope was happy!), walk on the lake, hot tub. Bad part: visit to the Muskoka Wildlife Centre which should have been good but Hope whined the ENTIRE TIME. The rest of us thoroughly enjoyed the place though.

When we got home, Hope hurled.

Next day... time to go home. The Griswalds pulled away. Drive home, 6.5 hours. Great lunch in Bancroft. No extra stops. Drove a beautiful route on the Opeongo Road. Had tea but didn't have to stop an extra time (still can't figure out then why it took us the same amount of time to get back as it took to get up there but whatev). NO ONE PUKED.

As much as I love going up there, sitting in the hot tub, playing in the snow, visiting my dad and Donna, someone will have to SHOW ME THE MONEY to get me to leave home for March Break for many years to come.

I need a holiday. Can we get a do-over?

Yes, of course there were some fun moments. If only there was less puke, more sleep, less pain. I have put some photos below to give you some moments (mostly good) from The Week I'd Rather Forget.

Hope and Henry sharing a puke-free moment on our first day in Gravenhurst.

Emily staying under the radar lest the Universe comes to get her, too.

A really fun morning of tobogganing. This was the first smile from Hope in a while.

Another smile! Tobogganing saved our trip for a while.

At the Muskoka Wildlife Centre. Lest you think Hope is looking for a dropped contact lens, she's actually refusing to move because she feels like stink.

Pretty much the happiest look she could muster.

Happy in the hot tub on the morning we were heading home. The hot tub was the other happy place. Especially for John's back.

March Break

I'm up early. It's about 6:40 a.m. Everyone else is sleeping. I'm reading through my RSS feed and my email. I'm drinking tea and eating pumpkin bread. While this all sounds lovely, I'd rather be in bed under my duvet. But, I have a chiropractic appointment at 8:00 and would like to shower before I go because when I get home it will be a whirlwind of packing. We're driving to my dad's today for a few days of March Break fun.

Granted, there will be rain and slush and probably mud but there will also be a hot tub overlooking the slushy lake.

And there will also be work. I have my major project due next Monday for the class I'm taking so my evenings have to be spent working.

If you are spending this week with your kids on their break, have a great adventure together.


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Beautify

I've never been one to choose a "word for the year". You may have talked to or read other people who do this: something, in a word, to focus on for the coming year. For me, this is too close to making a New Years Resolution, something I run away from annually.

Mainly because I try to avoid failure.

But this year, I started thinking about it a bit, just as a game. What word would I choose for this year? Laundry? That seems to dominate my time. Candyland? Also takes up more than its fair share of my days. Maybe sleep? that often sought-after but seemingly unattainable dream when you have three kids six and under. After about all of 5 seconds, I had moved onto something else. Probably choosing which setting to use on the laundry machine.

And then I had a new neighbour over for tea.

Her name is Shahi. She and her family just moved here from UAE. I decided to pull out the proper teacups instead of using usual pottery mugs. I served cake on pretty china plates.

As I passed Shahi her cup, she said: "These are so pretty. People don't put importance on beautiful things anymore. Everything is about function. It's sad that we are losing beauty from our homes and lives like that."

I haven't gone a day without thinking about that since. She's so right. We so often give over to function over beauty. I have a sideboard full of china and teacups and silver and crystal. It gets used at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Or if we forget to run the dishwasher.

I decided that my word of the year would be Beautify. In fact, this may become my word for the next several years, if not my lifetime.

Being frugally minded, this doesn't mean I will be spending money to beautify my home and life. It means I'll start giving more playtime to the beautiful things we already have. I now have at least one cup of tea a day in a proper tea cup. I try and move things around occasionally to take better notice of some of the pretty things I own. For example, my friend Michelle was visiting last week from Waterloo. I put all the little travel size shampoos and soaps for her in a gorgeous silver bowl that we received as a wedding gift but normally sits collecting dust on a dark shelf in our family room.

It might seem like this all seems so superficial. But what I notice is that other people notice when there is beauty around them - they can be simple things, or simple actions, but they can have a profound effect on how someone's day goes. Seeing beauty and appreciating beauty is fundamental to human nature. That's why we make art, go to art galleries, garden, go to parks, cook lovely meals, make pottery, knit, sew, have meals together, read and write.

As I thought about beautifying more, I knew this should and would extend far beyond material things. I'm making an effort to beautify life.

I'm a patient mother - quite patient, in fact - but I can always improve and I'm making an effort to do that.

I'm baking more (gluten-free, mind you) than I have in the past two months so there is always something homemade to be had as a snack or small dessert.

My letter-writing project (sadly behind right now) is an additional effort to add a small amount of beauty to other people's lives.

I'm knitting for other people.

Emily and I have started a creative project that is almost finished that will add a bit of beauty and several smiles to the people around us. It's also given us something really fun - and therefore beautiful - to do together.

I've started ironing clothes. If you know me, you'll know that is nothing short of a miracle. But it is rather nice to not look like you slept in your clothes. You know?

Beauty is how you decide to define it. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I can see beauty - or opportunities to beautify - all around me. How about you?

The award is in the bag

Would you like to know what I just did?

I just finished making a batch of homemade doughnuts. Oh yes, I did!

Gluten-free pumpkin doughnuts to be exact. And after a very long hiatus, I'm putting this up on a Wednesday which means this is part of Shannon's awesome What's Cooking Wednesday.

Emily made the batter with me, I heated the oil and deep-fried those suckers and they are everything a homemade doughnut (in this case, Timbit, or doughnut hole for you Americans) should be: crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, sugary, pumpkiny, spicy, warm.

For those of you vying for the Best Mum of the Year Award.... how does my dust taste?!

No one wants to be laughed at when they're naked

This blog is suffering from not-so-benign neglect. And just when there are so many things to talk about. It's always the way, isn't it? Lots been going on, much of it blog-worthy. Before the goings-on are filed away in my grey matter, never to be retrieved again, I'm going to try to get a few posts up this week. Saying it here may actually make it happen. Here's hoping, anyway.

I have funny kids... very funny kids... but the funniest (although the jury is still out on Henry) is Hope. She makes us belly-laugh frequently, never due to effort on her part, and then she gets extremely agitated (read: stinking mad) if she thinks we're laughing because of something she said or did. Which we almost always are.

Evidence: this week she said something funny (again) while she was changing into her jammies and yelled at us: I don't like it when people laugh at me when I'm naked!

Which did not make us laugh less.

In the past couple of weeks she has reached a new pinnacle of funniness. I've managed to remember three good Hope-isms, using top-secret, tired mummy-brain techniques, so that I could get them down and then free up that brain space for things such as remembering library book day and where I left my hemorrhoid medication. This is important stuff people. So very important.

Laugh #1: Hope tends to take Henry's toys right out of his hands. Yanks them actually. I caught her in the act a couple of weeks ago and explained how even though he's a baby, you can't just grab things away from him even if you want them. You have to treat him like you treat other kids, blah, blah, blah. I walked out of the room and back in to see her with Henry's toy again. I asked her how she got it.

Hope: "I asked Henry for it and he said yes."
Me: "But Henry can't talk."
Hope: "Yes, he can."
Me: "Uh no, he can't."
Hope: "Yes, he can, Mummy."
Me: "But how do you know what he's saying?"
Hope: "I understand baby talk."

A minute later, Hope turns to Henry and says: "Henry, can I use that when you're finished?" (She leans in to his face and listens near his mouth as though he were a stuffed animal in one of her pretend games.) "You're done? Oh good. Thanks!" Yanks toy out of his hand.

Laugh # 2:
Hope: I got my chest skin stuck in this zipper today at school. [It was a decorative zipper on the front of a dress.]
Me: Why were you unzipping that zipper?
Hope: My hand was tired so I was giving it some exercise to give it more energy.

Laugh #3:
(at the dinner table)
Hope: Mummy, you forgot to give me the broccoli I asked for!
Me: Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you ask for it.
Hope: That's because I asked you in my head.

And just so Emily isn't totally left out...
I was changing Henry's diaper last week when Emily walked into the room and said:
Is there poop in that diaper?
Me: No.
Emily: Good! Because the last time I saw Henry's poop, it was terrifying!

Letters 5 and 6

I have to admit that I got a bit behind in my letter writing. I haven't missed sending out a letter but for three weeks I was one letter behind, meaning that I always had two letters to send out and I never sent two letters out in a week so one letter kept being pushed a week ahead. Get that? Confusing, I know.

Well, last week I remedied that and actually mailed out two letters.

First, let's back up just a bit and say that letter number 3 went to Mrs. Cheevers. If you recognize the last name, you're right, it's THAT Cheevers, as in Gerry Cheevers, goaltender extraordinaire. If you know hockey, you'll know Gerry's mask: in 2008 Hockey News rated it the best goalie mask ever. I think I'm right in saying he was the first to ever decorate his mask - with stitch marks each time it was hit with a puck.

Mrs. Cheevers is his mother and just as importantly, mother to Pat Cheevers who was John's dad's best friend, pretty much forever as far as I can glean. Unfortunately for this world, Pat and Ken are in the great hereafter enjoying a beer (or several) together but Mrs. Cheevers is hanging on like a champ. She's what you'd describe as a spitfire in the best possible terms. I've always really liked her although I haven't seen her in a long time. I believe she is around 90 now, maybe a bit beyond that even. John's mom is close to her and visits her frequently. This is how I learned that Mrs. Cheevers was complaining that she hadn't received a letter in a while. That sealed it for me. Mrs. Cheevers was next on my list to write to. And I'm happy to report that she was thrilled to get my letter. I'll make sure that I write to her again in a few weeks.

Letter number 4 was a birthday card - a really nice one I bought at Chapters - for Donna, my dad's wife. I understand why people, and I've done it countless times, send e-cards but a real birthday card is just so much nicer. I will not be sending one e-card this year. It's going to be the real thing all the way... it's also a really easy way for me to send out a letter!

Letter 5 went to my dear friend Marnie. She reads my blog so I'm not saying more about the letter (actually, package). Marnie and I met in first year university. We lived in the same residence: Conrad Grebel College, the Mennonite college at the University of Waterloo. To say we hit it off, is an understatement. I could go on and on and on about our exploits - together with the other member of the trio that year, Holly (Hi Holly!). The following year, after Holly moved off-campus, Marnie and I shared a room and after that, a few houses. We've stayed very close through all these years and thankfully I got to spend lots of time with her last year when we were in Waterloo although we both kept saying that it still wasn't enough. She's one of my very special friends who I can not talk to or see for a while and when we meet again, it's like no time has passed at all.

The other letter I sent was to someone else who reads this blog so I'm not going to say much else. Getting real letters is such a rarity now that I don't want to spoil the surprise.

I'm really enjoying this. I'm not being too hard on myself if something is delayed a week, as long as it get the letter out eventually even if I have to double-up one week. The loveliest part of this whole project is spreading the love. People really appreciate getting a letter or card or package and it makes me feel like I'm beautifying the world a little bit by brightening up someone's day each week.

More on my beautifying project in a future post!

Why helping women be successful in breastfeeding should be applauded and not criticized (aka Karen's newest rant)

I've been following this story out of the U.S. with great interest. Can someone, anyone, please explain to me using some intellectual capacity, how promoting breastfeeding, especially to a population that traditionally doesn't breastfeed or at least breastfeed beyond a few weeks, is being Big Mother or creating a Nanny State?

I am so riled up about this and it isn't (thankfully) happening in my own country. But I just don't get how Americans can vote for the Republican Party.

Promoting breastfeeding is in no way being a Nanny State or "Big Mother", as the Republicans have described Michelle Obama. If it is then so is an anti-smoking policy, or banning asbestos as a building material, or promoting fitness through Participaction.

The Republicans argue that making these opinions into policy is making the U.S. into a Nanny State. Oh, and the Republicans have never made their opinions into policy, right? Making killing an abortion doctor justifiable homicide in South Dakota comes to mind as a recent and abhorent example.

By the by, making breastpumps a tax deduction wasn't Michelle Obama's idea. It was proposed by 45 Congress men and women. Not that that should matter. Working mothers - and most women in the U.S. don't get much maternity leave at all - need help if they're going to continue to breastfeed. A decent breastpump up to the job of a lot of pumping costs about $250. For a woman being paid minimum wage, that's unaffordable. These women need help. It makes me sick that the Republican Party thinks that because one well-off woman could buy a pump on her own to breastfeed her five children, that all women can do that. Guess what? Most American women don't have that kind of money. Most American women need a bit of help if they're going to work and breastfeed.

American Republicans: start thinking about someone other than yourselves. It's what you were elected to do.

You make me thankful I don't live in the United States.

Change of plans

We were supposed to be driving to my dad's in Gravenhurst right about now but Emily's stomach had a different idea for the weekend.

Yesterday morning Emily got up around 6:00 coughing and crying (I should have known what was to come... coughing for her is a sure sign of digestive distress - and impending yakking). She went back to bed until about 7:30 when she got up and ralphed. She had some water later. And then up came the water.

She spent from about 8:00 until 11:30 asleep. The rest of the day she lazed about feeling sort of okay when she had Motrin in her but really not okay when the Motrin wore off. Fevery.

After a lovely bubble bath last night (soothing and useful to wash barf out of hair) she felt GREAT! I thought maybe, just maybe, we'd be able to go to Muskoka for the weekend. But alas, this morning, she got up and laid right back down on my lap and didn't move for about 20 minutes. She still isn't herself so we've decided to stay put. Also, the risk that another member of the clan may fall to this flu also weighed on my mind. When you're barfing, you really want to do it in your own bathroom.

So, here we are: a long weekend ahead of us (as today is a P.D. day - no school) and Monday is a holiday. So, as long as everyone is healthy or near-healthy, here is our plan:

Today: a trip to the library this afternoon or Chapters (this is really more for me - I'm feeling like I need to breathe air outside these walls)? Emily may stay home for this.
Saturday: maybe go to The Farm. We haven't been there since we moved back to Ottawa. The museum isn't open yet (although will be open on Monday for Family Day) but we can still see the animals. Nice little piggies.
Sunday: Jacques Cartier Park for some Winterlude, Beavertails and sliding down the ice slides. Late afternoon - first swimming lessons (at least for Hope).
Monday: There's a winter festival at our local park from 11am to 3pm that I think we may go to. Of course, today feels like spring, but I hear that Winter plans to show his face again this weekend.

What are you doing this weekend?

Making up for lost canal time

Last year was the first winter I didn't skate on The Rideau Canal since about 1997. We were living in Waterloo last winter, a long commute to the Canal, and the one weekend I did make it here I was about 6 months pregnant and already Large And In Charge and wasn't willing to risk catching my blade in a crack in the ice. Henry would have been fine but my body wouldn't have liked the 165 pounds of momentum behind that fall.

I'm making up for lost time this winter. I've been out three times on the Canal and twice on our local rink helping the girls learn to skate. Next weekend, we'll be in Gravenhurst skating on Kahshe Lake in front of my dad's house if all goes according to plan. My legs are slowly remembering what to do and how to recover. Pushing Henry in a heavy stroller (Peg Peregos are great but not exactly lightweight) makes it an even better workout... especially if I'm skating into the wind.


My sort-of routine is to go to the Canal on Wednesday and Friday afternoons while both girls are in school. I hope to keep doing this as long as the ice is decent. Wouldn't you with scenes like this?


My only complaint up to this point has been the lack of decent food on the canal for a gluten-sensitive girl like me. Beavertails? Yum but fully-glutened and not exactly a healthy choice for lunch. Poutine? That gravy is likely chalk-full of wheat or something related (if it is even identifiable outside of a lab) and it tastes like shite. Why can't we get a decent poutine on the Canal? We're in a city ripe with good poutine. It's about LAYERS, friends, LAYERS. Fries, cheese curd, GOOD gravy, repeat. NOT fries, more fries, a bit more fries, a few curds, a brown sludge poorly resembling gravy.


Of course, poutine is definitely not going to make the list of healthy lunch choices, even when done well.

And then along came the soup lady. Stone Soup Foodworks was profiled in The Ottawa Citizen this week so I, like many other people on the Canal yesterday, sought her out. I had her Thai Squash Soup for lunch. It was delicious and nice and spicy. Clearly Ottawans have been wanting this because the line was huge by the time I joined it. I bought the last bowl of squash soup and she was almost out of bread (which I didn't take - she gave me 50 cents off as a result. Very friendly.). I hope she's a new fixture on the Canal because she's set a new standard.


So, for all of those Ottawa mums out there who are feeling a little house-bound: get out there, get skating and have some soup. Henry says so! (Don't worry, Rose, he survived the cold!)

He'd be at home in a garbage dump

Henry's newest favourite place to sit:




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I've been hoping for this

Last year during our very social year in Waterloo, I found myself complaining that we didn't know our neighbours in Ottawa very well at all. We had a few acquaintances on our street but no one that I would really call "friend". The girls didn't have any playmates that they would just meet in the back yards or ride their bikes with or invite over to play. They had that in Waterloo in spades and I was very sad to leave that behind.

This afternoon the girls came home from school and started playing on our front snow pile. Anna ran over from a few doors down. Minutes later Emily popped her head in the door and yelled that she and Hope were going to play in Anna's front yard. A little while after that Emily came back and asked if they could go have hot chocolate at Anna's. When I called over a little while later, I could barely hear Anna's mum, Isabelle, over the din. Mohammed and Raeff, other neighbours on our street, were also over playing she said. Earlier this week I had a new friend, Shahi, from down the street over for tea.

I promised myself in the summer that I would try to make more friends on our street. While I don't think I actually did anything extraordinary to make it happen, I'm so happy that has.

Friends nearby make a home happier.

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Snow Day.... Sort of

We've woken up this morning to a very snowy Ottawa. The wind is whipping, buses are cancelled, snow is still falling, traffic is snarled. Schools remain open for those that can find their own way there.




My girls take the bus to school so we offered Emily every student's dream this morning: a Snow Day. Stay at home with Mummy in your pajamas and watch movies and do crafts. And do you know what she said?

No, I want to go to school.

Another episode for the nerd file. I love you, my little nerd.


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Wah, harumph, grumble!

Here are some things I feel the need to complain about:

• John being away for most of last week while Henry decided to stay awake two hours (non-consecutive) each night and cry. Not John's fault in any way. Just bad luck.
• Mondays - I love them until I come home from my class at Carleton and then after that it feels like a big whirlwind while I try and clean up from the day and do the dishes and make dinner and play with the girls who really want to play games after not seeing me all day.
• my letter writing - I'm behind a letter. Last week, while I had plans to squeeze in my letter-writing, I didn't get it done. See above as to why.
  
• gluten. I love it but why doesn't it love me? Wah.
• people who flaunt rules... in front of their kids no less. Our local outdoor skating rink is actually a double-rink: one for recreational skating and one for hockey. There is a clear sign in the changing area that sticks, pucks and balls are prohibited on the rec ice. Does anyone care? Yes, two people - me and one other perturbed father who, like me, had to make sure his children didn't get a slapshot to the orbital lobe. Every other person on the ice (and there were many) had a stick, puck, net or full goalie gear (no exaggeration). Yes, I am calling my city councillor tomorrow. I'm that grumpy anti-hockey mom. So sue me for being unCanadian. I don't care. I just want to skate with my kids.
  
• The City of Ottawa's current garbage and recycling program. Our green bin (organic compostable waste) is currently full to the top - the lid can barely close - and it is also frozen solid. It's only collected every two weeks. We are a family of five (4 and a half anyway) who eat a lot of compostables and we're very committed to composting. The bin was full at the end of last week and it won't be collected until this Thursday. Collecting only once every two weeks is not acceptable when you want to encourage people to compost. I've told the city this in their current survey but I still feel the need to complain. To anyone who will listen.
• People who say they are "trying to prove a point" to the City by not using the Green Bin program. There is a special place in Hell reserved for you people. And I hope it is full of your stinky garbage.
  

Phew. Just needed to get that off my chest. And now, on to more positive things. Time for some tea and knitting. And a freshly baked (gluten-free) muffin!