random thoughts

My neighbourhood (a suburban one) has many patches of forest it in. Many are owned by developers waiting to build on them. Last weekend while running down the main street, between two such patches of forest, 4 stunning graceful deer crossed the street right in front of us. It was such a beautiful sight. We were all so happy we were blessed to see them. Two days later, while driving on this same road to pick up my son from day care, I noticed work men putting up ugly orange storm fencing on one side of the road. I believe this means they are getting ready to cut down this patch of forest to start building houses. This made me sad.

I had planned on writing an earth day post, but I didn't. I realised I had little to say. And I was too busy at work. I occasionally hang my laundry to dry. When I am organized. I have more work to do on that front, sorry Earth. Oh, but I still love my composter, and I am starting to use it again now that spring is here, Your welcome Earth.

I am getting ready to go on holiday and to a conference. The conference is in Orlando so we planned a Disney trip ahead of it. The kids are over the moon excited. I am looking forward to it as well. I still have quite a bit of planning to do. There is just so much to do there, it is a bit overwhelming. Thanks Misty for the info you sent me yesterday. I appreciate it.

I may not write again until I get to the conference. I don't plan on booting up the laptop while we are at Disney. Take Care everyone.

no naps for you

We have been trying to avoid nap time with M on the weekends. He is the kind of 4 year old who still wants to nap for 2 hours, but when he does he will stay awake till 11pm. And this Mommy (and Daddy) need our own down time at the end of the day. There is no way having M up till 11pm is relaxing. Nor is it quality time because we usually just end up plopping him down in front of the TV while we try and clean/relax/work.

Yesterday was a very nice day here, we spent a lot of time outside. Around 4pm I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and he came along. He started to look tired on the ride there. It takes us a grand total of 2 minutes to drive to the store (and that is if I get the red lights on the way). I hoped he would have enough energy to get back home where he would perk right up again once he saw our neighbours outside playing. He didn't make it that far though.

I hadn't even noticed he had fallen asleep until a person coming in the opposite direction smiled at him, then me, and I thought that was strange and peered over the edge of the cart. There he was doubled over and sound asleep. You would think that would be a painful way to sleep but he got angry at me when I moved him from the cart to his car seat.

Its Friday! WHOO HOO

A few weeks ago Shan posted a web site she enjoys visiting. I had never heard of it, but I now visit it daily. It is called "Dollar Store Crafts". Some of the ideas are so cute and fun. I just wish I had time to do them.

April 22nd is Earth day here in Canada (not sure if it is different in the US). I have plans for a post for that day but I saw this on the Dollar Store Crafts web site and I had to pass it on. It is a pattern for a reusable swiffer duster. How cool and eco friendly is that! This is one project that I will do.

Thankful Thursday

I have so much I want to write, but so little time... This list will have to do.

Today I am thankful

• That M wasn't actually lost on Monday. All week he has been so sweet and funny. I think it is just me reacting to the feeling of almost having lost him.
• That spring finally feels like it has arrived. Which means we are all spending tons of time outside, which means the house is a mess. But we are having fun outside, that counts for something right!
• That I am getting something that I have wanted for a long time - details to follow
• That Haley-O from the now defunct Cheaty Monkey will continue to write for Canada Moms Blog, so I don't need to feel like I have lost one of my best cyber friends.
  

I lost a few years off my life

Today. Today, I was in the Superstore with my kids doing groceries. M helped me get something off a high shelf, I often lift him up to reach the high stuff I can't reach, we are a team when we grocery shop. We have been doing it together since he was born. He loves grocery shopping with me and is a good companion. So like I said, he handed me the soy sauce, I turned to put it in the cart and turned back to him. He was gone. I froze. I looked down the isle, I ran to the end of the isle and looked up and down the store, no M. I instructed D so stay put, stay with the cart. I proceeded to walk very quickly up and down the middle isle looking down each isle for him. No M. I was calling his name. This is one of those stores that has a clothing section in the middle. I looked over at it and started to despair, where was he. How would I find him. If I don't find him I will have to get the staff to help. OMG where the hell is he. Just then, there he was. At the end of an isle. All smiles. He didn't even know he was missed. I yelled at him to GET OVER HERE (what else could I do). I scooped him up, told he had scared me and that he should never do that again and then I lost it. I started crying right there in the Superstore, in the pasta isle. All told the whole incident was about 40 seconds, but it was the longest 40 seconds of my whole life. I don't know if I could have taken it if it had been longer. I was such a wreck, am such a wreck. Oh my heart. Thank God he was okay.

Thankful Thursday

1. For the extra long weekend that stretches out before me. I have been battling a head cold all week and I look forward to doing NOTHING tomorrow.

2. For the wonderful friends who have been treating me to dinners, lunches and tonight, drinks all in an extended celebration of my birthday. You guys really know how to make a gal feel special.

3. For my neighbour who literally just this second called me to give me tickets to the Senators game tonight (Ottawa's NHL team). I haven't been to a game all season and this is one of the last.

4. For my 4'7", 82 pound 7 and a half year old, who fought with me for months about getting out of his booster seat. All the research I did indicated that he should be 4'9" before he is tall enough for the lap belt. But after months of pestering, I gave in. One week later (this week) he told me the lap belt was bugging him (rubbing his neck) and he wanted the booster back! YAY, I win!

What's cooking Wednesday

This week I decided to tag along with Shan over at Tales from the Fairy Blogmother (I swear every time I write Fairy, I type Fairly first, DAM YOU Nickelodeon and your stupid TV shows!). Every Wednesday Shan hosts What's Cooking Wednesday and it is a nice way to pick up new cooking ideas. I am afraid this week, my idea isn't new. But I do like this recipe and use it all the time. It is a simple Banana Bread. The main reason I like it is that it is a simple, quick recipe and it makes exactly one loaf or the bread or 12 muffins. Oh yes and Shan said she wants too cook more muffins so I am sucking up passing on my stand by recipe. Here it is:

Banana Bread
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cups sugar (I uses brown)
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana

preheat oven 350 F
grease pan
mix flour, baking powder and salt
mix sugar, shortening, eggs until light and fluffy
mix in bananas
add dry ingredients, stir till smooth
bake in loaf pan for 50-60 mins

When I make it I usually mix up 1/2 a cup of kamut flour, 1/2 cup of soft whole wheat and 3/4 cups unbleached white flour. I usually make muffins and they only take about 20 or so minutes to cook. I also have been known to add chocolate chips. I don't measure the choco chips, I just let M dump and then grab the bag out of his hands, what ever makes it in, makes it in. M is my baking companion. He has been helping me since he was old enough to stand and now that he is 4 he confidently runs the mixer, pours in all the ingredients and begs me to let him crack the eggs. So far I haven't given in on the egg request, but I really should. It would make him happy. And at this rate he should be able to do the whole thing by the time he is 5 and I will be able to sit back, sipping my cocktail while he bakes for me... What, you don't think so??? A woman can dream can't she!

Ta da

The Cake!He loved it and it really was super easy to make. I didn't come up with this idea on my own. I had a little help from these guys. They recommended using Pirouline for around the deck, but since I had a child with a nut allergy in attendance I opted for Kit kat bars. Those are Playmobile pirates from D's Christmas advent calendar (pirate themed, of course). I used Swiss Rolls for the cannons and those are red candles sticking out of them. M really enjoyed blowing out his cannon candles. As did a few other kids. I had to re-light them before M got to blow them all out himself.

My boy! Oh my heart melts just looking at him. I don't know what it is in our physiology that makes us love our offspring so fiercely, but I do, we all do. It is an amazing thing.

It's ma party, I mean his, I mean mine!

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be very preoccupied with planning M's party so nothing much is planned. I am okay with that. I really enjoy planning these things for my boys.

Today I arrived home from work and M and I were chatting. M speaking his cute squeaky 4 year old way.

Me: Hey M, are you looking forward to your party?

M: Yes, but we got your mug.

Me: Mug, what mug?

M: Your mug, your green mug, the one we bought you at Tim Hortons. Daddy hid it in his gym bag...

Then I hear Kevin scream from upstairs - NOOOOOO You were not supposed to tell Mommy about that!

HAHAHA, so it looks like I will be getting a green Tims mug for my birthday. :)

Can't keep a secret with kids around.

I hope to have photos of the festivities to post on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone. Oh ya, Ahoy Mateys!

Thankful Thursday

I promised myself that I would start counting my blessings. Shan over at Tales from the fairy blogmother says that making note of what makes you happy may increase your overall happiness by 25%! She seems like a pretty happy lady, so I figure, why not give it a try.

1. D learned how to tie his own shoes this week. YAY no more helping and hopefully no more Velcro shoes for him.
2. M is turning 4. Even though I get all emotional thinking about this milestone, I am so happy to watch this wonderful little boy grow and change. He is a joy to be around (most of the time) and I am blessed to have him in my life.
3. This week my husband left a job that was making him miserable (next week I will be thankful for the new job he will be starting.
4. Sun and blue sky. Even if I can only see if from my office window. And yes I am grateful I actually have a window in my office. I am one of the lucky ones.
   
5. My morning coffee, hmmm I love my morning Timmies!

ok, you got me!

I am so gullible. I mean really gullible. Every April fools they get me. Its not my co-workers, not my friends or family. Its the news papers, the web sites. I read through the articles shaking my head, wondering WTF are they thinking. And usually just as the story is ending I clue in, the light goes on above my head and I catch on.

Danigirl posted a link to Mabels labels where they had a brand new product "Invisible labels". I was looking at it thinking, why would anyone need an invisible label? The poster said that the label would become visible when it was touched. See, gullible I tell ya!

This one really had me wondering: Guardian will post only in Tweets! It was forwarded to me by a VP in our company and he isn't really known for his sense of humour. This bit had me wondering:

"As a Twitter-only publication, the Guardian will be able to harness the unprecedented newsgathering power of the service, demonstrated recently when a passenger on a plane that crashed outside Denver was able to send real-time updates on the story as it developed, as did those witnessing an emergency landing on New York's Hudson River. It has also radically democratised news publishing, enabling anyone with an internet connection to tell the world when they are feeling sad, or thinking about having a cup of tea."

I read it and thought "are they really serious?" Then I read the following and knew this was a joke:

"A mammoth project is also under way to rewrite the whole of the newspaper's archive, stretching back to 1821, in the form of tweets. Major stories already completed include "1832 Reform Act gives voting rights to one in five adult males yay!!!"; "OMG Hitler invades Poland, allies declare war see tinyurl.com/b5x6e for more"; and "JFK assassin8d @ Dallas, def. heard second gunshot from grassy knoll WTF?"

HAHAHA, you got me.