Conversation with Hope

 

Hope is sick. She's been sick all week which means she's spent almost the entire week in her pyjamas. Today the buses were cancelled due to Ottawa's seriously crappy January weather freezing rain.  This mans that Emily, who always insists on going to school on a snow day, has to be picked up at the end of the day instead of taking the bus home.  And this means that I prefer that Hope gets dressed.  And thus this conversation:

 

Hope: I wish I could play outside.

 

Me:  Wait, you want to play outside but you're not willing to get dressed to go pick up Emily.

 

Hope: I don't mind wearing clothes, it's just that I don't want my hands to have to put the clothes on my body.

 

Even in sickness, this kid is super awesome.

New-found time

Henry is in this habit of getting up in the morning at 5:45 or so.  Today he slept in to a more reasonable 6:30 but that's rare.

And what do I do with this extra time that's being forced on me when so much of Ottawa (and my own house) is blissfully asleep?

I make lunches, read the paper, read email and blogs, make coffee (or tea) of course.

But I'm thinking that I should treat this extra time as something more special (rather than consistently wishing I was still asleep as I do most mornings).  Yesterday I decided I would start trying to head out for a morning walk.  This only works if John is home.  Which he isn't at the moment.

For the mornings when he isn't here or it's too damn cold and icy to convince myself to head outside, I'm going to use some of my time to blog.  I've been complaining and whining and lamenting about the infrequency of my posts, which is truly due to how many other things are vying for my time (read: Guiding).  I don't really have an excuse if I've got an extra 30 minutes to myself in the morning.

Oh, Henry?  What's he doing during this time?  Well, watching Netflicks on my iPad, of course.  The kid knows how to find it, choose a show, adjust the volume, get back to the start of shows.  He'll probably be sending you an email to tell you all about it.

I have some ideas whirling around in my brain about goals or projects I want to undertake for this my 40th birthday year.  Blogging is going to play a part.  I've got some more thinking to do on it before I tell you all about it.  But I'm beginning to think this extra time in my day will play a crucial role.

Christmas until now: a catch-up

Once upon a time there was a blog.  And the blog was happy.

But then the person who loved the blog ignored the blog and the blog was sad.

And then the same person needed the blog to build a house and to sit on its stump.

That's when things got weird.

Christmas.  Beth's visit.  New Years.  Back to school.  Brownies and Sparks starting back up.  It's January 20 and almost a month (!) since I last posted.  I'm not sure I've had such a long hiatus since I started blogging way back in 2006 but I'm noticing this trend among some of the blogs I follow.  Maybe we all just need a break from ourselves.

However I still need to preserve our family memories since my personal memory is abysmal and getting worse with age and the less sleep I get so here goes.

Christmas was lovely.  We had Christmas morning on our own and then we bundled the herd up and headed to Pam and Jim's for a great Christmas dinner that we didn't have to cook.  And Jim made awesome Pomegranate Cosmopolitans.

Here is a selection of  photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning:

Christmas Eve dinner before we got dressed up and headed to the Christmas Eve service at church.  We had our usual German dinner of sausages and sauerkraut.  This year we added scalloped potatoes.  And ended with the traditional boutentelle (sp?).

Emily begins unloading her stocking

Happy Hope on Christmas morning

As expected, Henry loved his book about buses

After a breakfast of Chelsea buns and fruit salad, it is on to the main event.  Emily was happy with her Spirograph from Santa.

Hope opening her Barbie camper.  It's seen lots of play since.

John is befuddled by the way the firetruck was attached to the box.  Hey Santa, next year take stuff out of the packaging before you wrap it, okay?!

By the end of the gift unwrapping, Henry was an old pro.

On December 29, Family Reyburn descended on our house.  Beth and Kate arrived from Texas and my dad and Donna from Gravenhurst.  We crammed into our wee house and no one got maimed.  We went tobogganing (Kate's first time) and made snowmen and went to the Nature Museum and made necklaces at Savvy Bead Company (one of the favourite activities we did) and went to A Gym Tale and Beth and I went to Spa Nordik on the coldest day we'd had so far this winter.  Next time we're taking toques to wear with our bathing suits and bath robes.  We also made a huge gourmet dinner on New Years.  Beth introduced me to the wonders of St. Germain Elderberry Liqueur.  All in all, it was an awesome visit.

Beth and Kate take the GT for a run

Emily, Hope, Kate and neighbour Anna pose with one of the best snowmen we've ever produced.

Kate works on her creation at Savvy Bead

Emily lines up her beads

Hope concentrates while she strings her necklace

Back to the routine come January 9.  And since the snow fell on Christmas Day, winter has been hitting us full force in Ottawa with temperatures each morning around minus 17.  I'm ready for a thaw.  The cold temperatures are giving us perfect skating conditions however so we're going skating this Sunday for the first time this year.  I'm really looking forward to it, as are the girls.

Henry turned 20 months old yesterday and he really deserves a post (or several) all his own.  He is everything that is perfect about this age right now.  Sure, he still has the occasional grumpy day (like today and yesterday) but mostly he is crazy fun to be with.  He is cute as all get out.  His hair is soft like feathers and curly like Art Garfunkel's.  He gives us coy looks when you ask him questions looking for a laugh.  His words are coming out faster and furiouser now.  He pipes in for the "HI!" part of the Dora theme song... you know in the last part: da-da-da-da-da-Dora - HI! - da-da-da-da-da-Dora - HI!.  He shouts out the HI! all on his own.  One of his favourite parts of the day is when I play puppets with his bear and lamb that he sleeps with.  He goes to sleep giggling away.  He calls out "Mama!" over and over again through the day when he wants me to see what he's doing, what's he's built, the trouble he's getting into, or if I just haven't looked at him in a while.  He loves playing in the snow, which is surprising given his age.  Emily and Hope didn't take to it until they were over two.  He refuses to get out of his sled when I'm pulling him around in it.  He is crazy-crazy about Kindermusik and starts the next level next week.  His favourite characters are Dora, Barney and "Toot", aka Thomas the Tank Engine.  While his allegiances definitely lie with John and me, he is totally enamoured with Hope.  He calls her name throughout the day if she's home or not.  Sadly for Emily, he refuses to say her name although he loves her to bits too.  She's dealing with it well but would love for him to give in and say 'Mimi'.  For now, it remains all about Hope.  Here is Henry's cuteness at work as well as the evidence of his fondness for saying 'Hope':

There have been some great moments with Emily and Hope from the last few weeks. While Beth and Kate and my dad and Donna were here, John and I and the girls played sleepover in the master bedroom.  John and I were on air mattresses while the girls stayed in their beds.  John has been known to snore now and again (that's called "glossing over the truth") and Emily is a light sleeper like me.  Here is the list that Emily wrote one day while we were all sharing a room:

Beth and I just about popped a gasket laughing so hard when we read this.  We did our best not to let Emily know how funny we thought it was.  I think we failed.  This gem is going right into her memory box.

This past week at Brownies we started to teach the girls how to hand sew.  They embraced it enthusiastically and Emily came home asking me to show her how to sew on the machine.  Two days ago she sewed a hot pad and Hope played around with different stitches on the machine.  As Emily sewed her first line of stitching on the hot pad I found myself saying: "Emily, Nana would be so proud!" and felt tears welling up in my eyes.  I was surprised by how emotional I was about it.  This was a direct connection to my mum and a deep connection between my mum and my girls.  This weekend each girl is going to sew a skirt for the Barbies.  I can't wait.

Emily had her first piano lesson on Thursday, another connection straight to Mum.  For the last year, I've been teaching Emily so this was her first lesson with someone other than me.  She loved every second and I was pleased to get confirmation that I've done well with her in the last year because her teacher (the wonderful Lynn) was really impressed with how much Emily already knows.

I took the girls for haircuts over the Christmas holidays and you'll note from the video above that Hope had all her locks cut off.  She's now sporting an adorable short cut that I absolutely love.  She's really happy with it too.  Hope continues to be my even-keeled, loving, cuddling, soft-hearted, reliable, hilarious and fun-loving girl.  I can now add budding reader to that list.  I'm so impressed with how her reading is coming along and thrilled that she isn't struggling with it.  And unlike Emily she seems to have much more patience for sounding out words and working at it until she gets it.  How refreshing!

Kudos to you if you've lasted this long.  I think I can count on one hand those of you who are still with me.  But this gets me mostly caught up and hopefully back in the blogging saddle.

Christmas came to Ottawa...

...in the form of snow today. Just in time to make it magical.




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Early mornings

I'm not naturally an early riser but kids will force you to do all kinds of things that don't come naturally.

Henry is in the habit of getting up at 6:00 am. And twice in the night, I should add (insert sympathetic awwwws here).

On a school morning this just means that I have more time to get things done before school starts. And I don't mind that at all. On a Saturday, I guess it means I can blog. Or make pancakes. Or amuse Henry (quietly) while everyone else is asleep

But this week I realised that since Henry was born, I've slept in once. ONCE. It was at the cottage this summer and it was only because I requested it and then Hope kept wandering into our room to ask me questions. And no one stopped her so I just gave up and got out of bed. So it didn't really accomplish the happy mood I was looking for.

It's getting a little a lot played. I guess since I'm the one who always gets up with him, it's become the norm around here. And sometimes when a norm is established, it's like turning a laker to change it.

On the upside, I like to watch the sunrise and see the birds arriving at the feeder and I like the quiet in the house. On the downside, it's becoming obvious that I don't have a lot that's worthwhile to say at 6:00 am.

Christmasification

Unlike last year, I am totally LAPPING UP Christmas this year.  I'm feeling all tingly and excited and festive (even with the events of yesterday).  I'm oozing good cheer and irritating everyone with my mirth.

As a result of this merry-making attitude, I planned to decorate the house in time for First Advent.  Yeah, that didn't happen but I did get everything up by the night of November 30 so that everything was properly festive on December 1.  I finally got the lights finished on December 3 (I wasn't as motivated that way when the temperature was hovering around zero but after it went up to something like ten degrees I climbed the ladder again for the last tinkering and plugging-in of the outdoor lights).

I have a treasured collection of Christmas decorations.  They go out every year although I often move them around to try different locations and looks.  Some years I can have them closer to the ground... other years (like this one) they need to be way, way up away from Henry's fingers.

I loved how Cathy gave a tour of her Christmas decorations so I'm going to do the same.  Take note - these decorations wouldn't likely make a design magazine - but they have a lot of sentimental value and that makes them much more meaningful to me than a colour-coordinated Christmas.

The dining room table: new Loblaws Christmas-themed table cloth.  I pulled out all my candles and realized I had a good collection to create my own advent row of candles.  However, they needed something to sit on so I whipped out some Christmasy fabric and made this little runner.  Much better.

Advent candles on the newly-sewn table runner.

Top of the piano on one side: This snow-woman is a favourite in our house.  I picked her up at Winners when Emily was a baby and she has to be the most popular Christmas decoration among the kiddies.  They take turns walking around with her.  Her little purse even has chocolately finger prints on her.  And of course, more candles (it's an unintentional theme this year).

Candles collected along the way.  The snow-lady and her grubby purse.

Other end of the piano: traditional Playmobil Advent Calendar.  I've decided that chocolate advent calendars will not be an annual tradition for us here.  I'm not saying "never again" but this is way more fun.  For the past few years we've had the same Playmobil Calendar.  This year I bought a new one after complaints of boredom with the same toys and scene last year.  The kids love to open a new piece each day.

This year's Playmobil Advent Calendar.

A favourite cross-stitch I made for my mum many moons ago.

The words on the picture say "peace on earth".

The hutch below the cross-stitch above: A mess, yes but lots going on here that's fun.  A snow globe that was a gift to my mum from one of her sewing students.  It has a music box in it too.  A very small nativity scene that I bought in Waterloo two years ago.  And then the very important and popular "25 Days of Christmas" cards.  Each day the girls (and next year Henry) open the card for that day.  There's an activity for us to do that is either related to Christmas or just something fun and out of the ordinary.  This is an annual event started and hosted by Andrea.

Our messy hutch.  Lots of Christmas going on here.

On another dining room wall sits the first cross-stitch I ever had framed.  The date I stitched on this says Dec 93.  It's almost an antique now!

I still can't help seeing the mistakes I made but love it nonetheless.

Doesn't every child of the 70s remember or have one of these ceramic Christmas trees?  I love it.  This one has a music box and plays O Tannenbaum.

You'll find these in many Canadian homes.  Pretty popular in the 80s.

And yet another cross-stitch I did long ago. 

Another cross-stitch I did.  I love me a Christmas cross-stitch.

This opening divides our living room and kitchen.  Usually bereft with junk, I tidied and remade it for Christmas with a bit of Christmas fabric, my lovely St. Nicholas that I bought years ago in Sudbury when Pit's House of Treasures was closing and the little snowman bell I bought one year at a Waterloo flower shop.  Also, more candles.

I love the poinsettia here among some of my favourite Christmas do-dads.

Pile of Christmas books for spontaneous reading and I like to spread Christmas coasters around.

One of two piles of Christmas books.

And here is the piece de resistance.  And something I promised to give my sister but I'm having a hard time parting with it. Maybe she'll let me give her something else instead.  I love this nativity scene.  Way back when we were kids my mum had this made (during the time that ceramics were so popular in the 80s).  Leading up to Christmas one year, she had us open a small gift each morning - each gift contained one figure from this set.  I remember it so well.  After she died Beth ended up with half and I ended up with half somehow.  Now they're together and sitting where Henry can't touch them.

My favourite nativity scene.

Fun Santa scene on the window.

Some window decals the girls love.

Backs of toilets are perfect for Christmas displays!  We gave that snowman candle to my mum for Christmas when I was pretty small.  It's only been burned a bit and is another of my total favourites.  The weird sign in the middle makes me laugh because I totally don't understand it.  Another gift to my mum from one of her students.  Santa and Jesus are entering a house holding hands.  Hilarious.

A back-of-the-toilet display.

A favourite touch that was a gift from my friend Marnie, who I love.  I only realized this year that this sign is painted on an old slate roof tile from New Orleans.  Very cool.

Still one of my favourites.

Again with the toilets....

Another back-of-the-toilet display.

I like to add some touches to the basement for when guests come.  Some fake greenery and a candle go a long way.

I like how the mantel turned out this year.

As do some homemade snowflakes.

Cheery snowflakes to welcome Omi and others.

And that's the grand tour.  I hope your house is feeling cheery and festive too!

Time for a change

I have long hair.  I haven't had it cut since the summer and even then it was just a trim.  Before that, my last cut was in January.  I don't necessarily recommend this strategy - it's been adopted out of necessity because getting my hair cut with Henry in tow (or all three kids even) is very unappealing.

My hair has been very long for at least two years now.  And it's time for a change.  Later this morning I am going to a salon SANS LES ENFANTS and getting partial highlights, a cut and style (thank-you Groupon).  I am drooling at the thought of being pampered for two hours.

The Before:

The After: (warning... this post gets really whiny and pathetic from here on in)

The conundrum of teacher gifts

I've tried a few different ideas for Christmas gifts for teachers over the past few years.  I have several good friends who are teachers so I polled some of them for ideas of what not to get.  No mugs (obvious), no homemade gifts by kids (sounds harsh, I know, but the teachers don't know what to do with them afterwards and feel bad throwing them away), no wine (in case they don't drink).  With all that in mind, I've normally stuck with something small from Ten Thousand Villages and then baked them some goodies based on what I already know they like.  This usually seems popular.  This year however, Emily's teacher announced right off the bat in September that she LOVES chocolate brownies and I've already heard that many of her students' families are giving her brownies.  So, while I am willing to put myself out there and say that it's possible that I make the best brownies EVER, I'm not going to make Mrs. B any brownies.

So, what to do?  I started with getting each teacher a can of Ten Thousand Villages Milk Hot Chocolate (super yum).  And I was thinking of taking the easy way out with a Chapters gift card but then I got a small catalogue in the mail from Unicef.  It's entitled Unicef Survival Gifts 2011/21 Gift Guide.  You can view the catalogue online here .

The first page of the catalogue reads: "Give gifts from our carefully chosen Survival selection, and give children what they need most to survive and to thrive."  The next page of the catalogue has a detailed map of where the Unicef Survival gifts will go (some to Central America but most to Africa).  The gifts are divided into sections: Health, Education, Water, Food, Emergency and Play.

I was intrigued but assumed that, like most Living Gift programs, none would be priced at what I budgeted for teacher gifts (around $20 per teacher).  I was wrong.

You can buy pencils for a school for $20 (that is 1,000 pencils), water purification tablets for $20, a Plumpy'Nut packet (peanut-based food for a child) for $10, therapeutic milk for $25, a writing and sketching pack for $10, and storybooks for $23.

I chose the pencils for schools for one teacher and the storybooks for another.  There are also lots of gifts in the $30 range as well.  I particularly like the Art-in-a-Box for $30 and the Literacy Pack for $30.  I will be mailed a card for each teacher that will inform the teachers that these particular gifts have been bought in their name.

I think they'll appreciate these gifts a lot and I know there are children in Africa who will appreciate them even more.  It feels good to do something like this and to know that I'm not adding to a pile of gifts that aren't really needed.  I think it also sends a great message to my kids about eschewing consumerism and using your money where it is really needed and that giving a gift doesn't have to be about buying something tangible.  It can be about finding a different yet meaningful way to express your appreciation for someone that also helps someone in dire need in the process.  I hope that they see how well this represents the meaning of Christmas when they present their gifts to their teachers.

I can see this becoming a yearly tradition for teacher gifts for our family.

What do you normally do for teacher gifts?  If you're a teacher, what do you love to get? Or dread?

Why we will always turn the radio on from now on before any car trip

When I started writing this post two days ago, I wrote: One week ago right now, I was sitting down to a lovely dinner of chicken burgers and other yummies with my friend Michelle and her two lovely daughters (and John and our kids) at Michelle's house in Waterloo.

But now it is two days later and I finally have downloaded the rest of the photos to go with this post.  My intro kind of lost its poetic appeal when I have to say "as of a week ago two days ago, I was sitting down to a lovely dinner..."  Such is life around my house.  Great intentions!

We had a great weekend two weekends ago visiting our friends and family in Waterloo and vicinity.  The drive there was HORRENDOUS, worse than last year even when construction on the 401 heading west slowed us down so badly that we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in scenic Trenton, Ontario.

That was a total walk in the park compared to our drive to KW last weekend.

We hit the road 30 minutes after we had planned to (which is pretty much what we always plan for).  The kids were chatting so much in the car that I didn't turn the radio on to listen to CBC Ottawa's drive-home show.  (Cue foreboding music here.  DA DA DAAAAA.)  We stopped for supper in Kingston.  I got a curious Facebook message from my friend Jan asking if we'd encountered the slowdowns on the 401 because of "that accident" she'd heard about on the radio.  Nothing so far, I commented.  On we went.  DA DA DAAAAA.

Not long after we were faced with endless brake lights.  We had just passed an exit that would have allowed us to get to Highway 7.  Instead we sat between that exit and the next one for...

Why hula-hooping by an almost-40-year-old should only be attempted under the supervision of a qualified physician

I was lazily preparing breakfast on Saturday morning (not rushing to make school lunches and breakfast at the same time like I do from Monday to Friday) when I heard Rob Burwash's sleep-inducing voice announce that there would be a hoop-a-thon/hoop dance/hoop thingy on Sunday afternoon in front of the National Art Gallery.  A woman came on to talk all about it - hoopers (yes, that's what they're called) from all over Ottawa would gather with their hoops and hoop til the sun went down.

It took me all of about 4 seconds to decide where I would be on Sunday afternoon.  Because hooping = awesome.

Emily and Hope really like hula-hooping and so does their mother (not that I imbibe often but when I have I rather love it).  Emily is especially fond of it along with her friend, Rebecca.  In fact, I even made hoops for them all last year (it is really fun to make your own hoops and they are SUPERIOR quality to the poor excuse for a hula hoop that you find at Canadian Tire).  And so, I invited Rebecca and our neighbour, Anna, to join Emily, Hope and me on Sunday afternoon to hoop the day away.

Here is what we saw when we arrived (after driving all over God's green Byward Market to find a parking spot):

Coordinated hoop dancing!

There were piles of hoops to be tried - all homemade jobbies of course - and we tried many.

The favourite was this giant hoop:

I hooped right along with all the girls while trying to perfect some tricks (or at least get them to a point where the hoop wasn't hurtling across the brickwork at breakneck speed aiming to remove a tooth from an unsuspecting hooper or non-hooping innocent bystander).

We stayed for two hours.  I was hooping for about 90 minutes of that.

As I said, I don't exactly hoop a lot.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the next day I was whining incessantly mentioning on Facebook that my back was hurting.  And later that day, I tried to bend over and pick something up and could barely stand upright without the help of that "I've fallen and can't get up" contraption due to my abdominals being in shreds.  Oh and also, my neck hurt.  I think I hurt my neck when I was perfecting my neck spin/launch the hoop to my hands trick that was oh-so-awesome and yes, it will appear on Youtube someday or at least on Canada's Got Talent.

A good number of people were there - it seems mostly hooping teachers and their families/friends - and us.  And then a slightly strange woman who attached herself to our little posse.  She was nice and friendly and really liked kids and I assumed she was there with her own kids but then she said and did a few things that made me realize that there is no way she has kids.  Like, for example, she was INSISTENT that we pose for a photo with the hoops arranged JUST SO and everyone SMILING and LOOKING AT HER... RIGHT NOW.  SIGH.  WHY AREN'T YOU LOOKING OVER HERE?  And me thinking... you do not have kids because someone with kids would not even attempt to get a staged artistic shot with four girls, one of whom is five years old and all of whom have been HOOPING for almost two hours.  Because we all know that that would only be attempted in order to illustrate why you should never attempt it.

That grimace is me wondering why I didn't stop this idea in its tracks.

And then she insisted on drawing portraits of the girls right after I suggested I take them for hot chocolate before heading home.  So now we have four tired girls with the hot chocolate carrot dangling in front of them being asked to sit quietly and NOT MOVE after hooping for two hours.

Recipe for success!

It would have gone more quickly if Emily's damn hair hadn't been so difficult to translate to the page.

But we did finally get the hot chocolate, and a sketch of the girls, and lots of stories to tell.

And possibly a hernia.

Do or do not. There is no try.

When I saw this shirt on Etsy, I had to buy it for Henry.

First, I'm a big Star Wars fan.  John is an even bigger Star Wars fan. 

Also, this Yodaism fits Henry to a tee.  This guy is bigger, stronger, smarter and definitely more mischievous than you would assume. 

To your own peril.

As evidenced by him pulling down the laptop, climbing on the couch and opening it.  This is just one of the many, many moments of Henry's day when he is into something, pulling down something, messing up something or taking something.

The morning often starts with him opening the dishwasher (on his own - it requires that he depresses a latch and then pulls the door open), removing cutlery and throwing the cutlery into the cutlery drawer.

He then moves on to opening my iPad, finding the video folder, choosing Netflix and then finding a Barney episode to watch.  On.  His.  Own.

After that, it's time to empty the Tupperware cupboard or perhaps unfold all the laundry or maybe walk around with the cloth diaper pail.  Or climb up to Emily's bunkbed.  You know... if he's in the mood.

Or perhaps he'll find my teacup and drink the remnants.  Or eat garbage off the floor.  Or out of the compost bin.  Yum.  Breakfast of champions.

He may wear my underwear around on top of his pants.  Or pull every Wii game out of the drawer.  Or pull a step-stool over to the sink and start playing in the dishwater.  And take photos of his day with my iPhone.

Yeah, I no longer judge him by his size. Actually, now that I re-read this post... I'm starting to think that Henry is actually Yoda.  Without the Jedi powers.  Although they still may show themselves.  Next time my plane is stuck in a Dagobah swamp, I'm going to see if he can lift it with just a blink of his stink eye.

At 11.11.11

This is what I was doing:




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A snapshot of me right now

Given that I've pretty much abandoned this space of late, I think I'll just give you a quick snapshot of me right now... Actually, it's more for the me of a future since most of the time I figure that's who I'm writing for anyway.

I've made a small change in my daily eating habits that I feel could have some great long-term benefits and just plain makes me feel better about how I'm treating myself: I'm eating vegetarian lunches which must include a good amount of raw vegetables.  Fish is allowable (and encouraged).

I'm completely ADDICTED to Camelot on CBC.  Have you been watching it? If not, watch the first episode and then don't give up.  Watch the second episode and I guarantee you'll be completely hooked.

I'm getting excited about the plans that Isobel (dearest neighbour) and I have for Sugarplum Fairy Homebaking.  I love that I now have a partner in crime to share the burden and generate ideas with! Also, she rules at decorating cakes while I decidedly do not.

Why is it that it is always the same small group of people in any large group that are always the ones who volunteer?  Church, school, the community... always the same few people.  And we same few people are starting to get tired out!

Yesterday I decided that I'm tired of how our house looks inside.  I'm sick of our wood furniture.  I'm tired of looking at late early 2000s IKEA furniture.  I'm tired of our once-beloved earth tones.  I want some bold colours, some great art and a cool mix of eclectic furniture - American colonial, modern, even Victorian.  With some leather here and there.  I want a bunch of money so I can do all this redesign.

Have you seen this photo?  I'll link to it but I won't post it so that it doesn't show up on people's mobiles or iPads as the photo that introduces this post.  You all know that I'm new to Girl Guides of Canada but I love the organization and what they give girls around the world as though I've been a lifetime Guider.  When I saw this I was disgusted and angry.  Maybe you'll choose to make jokes and take it lightheartedly.  But not me.  I've reached my limit on the sexualization of girlhood in every sphere.  Nothing is left untouched.  This is an organization that goes against every message in this photo and to take it lightheartedly is to miss what this is really doing and to miss the messages that our girls and young women (and we old ones) are being sent by the world around us on a daily basis (just the tip of the iceberg is that we are valued mostly as sexual beings).  We in Girl Guiding (not to mention parents, teachers and many, many others who work with girls on a daily basis) work really hard to combat these messages each time we're with our units because a pillar of the Guiding movement is building strong, independent and confident women who are leaders and feel empowered to make great choices for themselves.  To use the very image of a Girl Guide to send the exact opposite message is disgusting at best and downright offensive at worst.  So laugh.  Make jokes.  Shrug it off.  Say you wouldn't say no to her cookies.  Just don't say it to me.

I'm alive!

I'm still kicking, friends... just silently. A few times I've written simply brilliant posts in my head but they got absorbed by my grey matter before I could spew them forth.

Given it's late and I therefore have no chance of putting something coherent together here are some random thoughts.

If I dedicated one day a week to cleaning the house... well, we'd live in a much cleaner house. Right now, I tend to do cleaning jobs through the week, here and there. Today I did most of it in one fell swoop. This may be a game-changer.

I really hate the term 'game-changer.'

I'm totally passionate about Coronation Street right now. Who's with me?

Since becoming a Brownie leader, I've become a bit obsessed by owls. Chapters has a gorgeous little owl mug that I've put on my Christmas list and I love some of the owl prints I'm seeing around. Also, I wouldn't turn my nose up at any cute owl necklace on Etsy. Just sayin'.

I realized today after getting all decked out in my yearly witch costume for Hope's Sparks Halloween party that I'm not so into Halloween anymore. I love watching the kids dress up but I'm not so keen now. I do continue to be keen on the candy.

It's time for a dramatic hair change but fitting a dramatic change into my schedule is proving to be difficult.

Henry is beyond all cute right now but he's also a holy terror. He stuffed a ton of paper towel in the toilet last week, rolled waxed paper across the kitchen floor so that it became decidedly unrolled, flushed his toothbrush down the toilet (we think), dumped a garbage can full of glitter onto a toilet seat and flushes toilets umpteen times during the day. He really likes toilets.

And... she's back. And now with more pumpkins!

Whoowhee. 

I was on a roll there but then the old Karen came back to her infrequent stop-ins round these parts.  I know.  None of us like change so I'm sure you're as pleased as I am that I'm back to my old ways.

Also, my new stint as Guider-spread-thinly has taken up a lot of my time recently what with two Brownie meetings now under my belt and my new roll as a Spark Guider. 

Yes, you read that right.  I'm now leading a Sparks Unit as well. 

What's that?  Crazy?  Yes, I am.  I fully acknowledge that and also my inability to say 'no'. At some point I'll learn that word but for now I will continue in my roll as over-tired and stressed over-achiever. 

My issue is that I love to be loved.  I accept it.  I own it.  Let's move on to pumpkins.

(But not before you go and read this blog post that I wrote for the GirlGuidesCAN blog, the first in a series I'm doing for them about being a first time Guider.  Go on.  I'll wait.)

Today my lovely friend Isobel and I dragged took Henry to Miller's Pumpkin Farm just south of lovely Manotick for a morning of frolicking among the pumpkins while we took hundreds of photos of the boy.  Okay, I took the photos.  Poor Isobel.  She has a gorgeous camera and excellent photo-taking skills but her remembering skills were left behind today... with her memory card.

Luckily, I threw in my point-and-shoot at the last minute and the photos, while not as good as what Isobel would have taken, were not bad.  Not bad at all.

A smattering:

Taking a look inside the pumpkin hotel

Peek!

Yeah, I'm cute all right.

Pensive pumpkin perusal.

It's hug a pumpkin day.

Hmm, I think this one deserves a Churchillian consideration.

Gah!  Camera!  I will wrestle that from your puny hands.

Gourds.  Me like.

Witty caption here.

It was a lovely, lovely morning.  The weather was perfect.  I drank in every moment of sunshine because I fear that we are running out of days where the temperature gets over 20 degrees.  I have to imprint this in my mind to get through the coming Ottawa winter. 

But let's not talk about that right now.  Let's just think of sunshine and roses.