stranger in a stranger land

Buying Time

2011-03-01T23:08:00.003-05:00

LJ is home from work today. He's getting a rotten head cold and since the roads weren't all that great this morning (even though is LOOKS beautiful outside). He figured he would stay home and try to nip the sinusitis in the bud. At any rate, it's affording me a while to write, something I'm finally ready to do.

All the Sunday Six posts and posts about playdates, video links, and the mundane things of life (while important to me in a certain light - and I really do HATE abortion; and I'm pretty sure I *really* do *need* these shoes, these boots, and this bag) - well they've all just been a distraction, a bit of a ruse, a trick I've been playing on myself so that I won't have to write about Real Life.

Real Life is Cancer. My Mom has cancer. She's had it once before a few years ago. She had surgery just before we moved back to Canada, and that was supposed to fix the problem. But something wasn't right and she could feel it. Then her leg started to swell...and swell. Then they found The Tumour. And The Blood Clot right beside The Tumour. Which is right beside a major artery or something so it can't just be removed, no quick fix. So all summer, she had radiation. Then it took forever to get a CT to see if the radiation had done anything besides reduce the swelling incredibly. It hadn't really. And now there are Spots on the liver.

The good news is that while one of the spots has increased in size, two of the others have shrunk somewhat, and the fourth is hardly visible at all on the CT. The bad news is that chemo...well...it doesn't necessarily guarantee a cure or remission or any of those good things. What it does, bluntly, is buy time. How much time? There's no telling that at this point. As long as the tumour and spots are shrinking, it's buying lots of time, but it's still not a guarantee. There are still three more chemo treatments left before the next CT and the next re-evaluation and a lot could happen between now and then....

We all get to a certain age where we realize that some day we're going to die. That's a near surety. By accident, old age, or some wretched disease, unless the glorious return of Christ happens before then, "It" will happen. It's a reassurance to me that the Sovereign God of our universe knows EXACTLY when I will draw my last breath. My 'fate' if you will, was decided long ago. But there's something about confronting it head-on, or in this case, with a beloved family member, that brings that cutting reality home in a more real and painful way then most of us will ever admit being ready to deal with. When our grandparents pass on, it's a horrible thing. Often, we have loved them like second parents, we have learned from them, grown with them (even though they never really seemed to age)....And then one day they're gone and death is one generation closer to us. To ME.

In the meantime, while we're buying time with drugs and praying for a miracle all the same (knowing that God will do exactly as He wills - nothing more, nothing less - Oh, how we would be so completely lost without God's sweet, sweet Grace!), we wait. We try our best to treat every trip like it's the last, every holiday like it's the last....and I mean every 'I love you', Mom, like it's the most important phrase I'll ever say to you. I have no idea how to tell you Mom, how very much you mean to me, how very much I love you, and how I have no idea what I'll ever do without you. For now, thank you for being so strong, for persevering, for sharing with us what God is teaching you through this, and for fighting. I - WE - love you.

I know you maybe didn't want me to write about this, Mom, but thanks for understanding that I need to. I've needed to for a long time.

While You Were Out

2011-02-02T20:48:00.003-05:00

If this doesn't break your heart, you should check to make sure you still have one.

CAUTION: This is pretty graphic and is NOT for viewing with kids in the room!! (Seriously.)

http://www.massmediamail.com/durarealidad/

Sunday Six - Post-Christmas Ed.

2011-01-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas came upon us with the haste and fury of a nasty Nor'easter and now it's passed us in a blur. We've been hopped up on way too much sugar for the past week and a half and now will have to wean ourselves off our favourite drug. The girls got far too many toys and had far too few naps. Next week is back to reality and settling down to enjoy our gifts!

In no particular order, here are six of my favourite presents (there are probably more than six, but I can't name them all now - mostly because I'm tired [I probably need some sugar]).

#1) I knew this muffin pan was coming because I was there when LJ bought it. I've been dreaming about it (truly) since we got it home. I've been waiting a whole week to break it in and the wait is nearly over because on Monday morning, I'm breaking out my apron! Recipe suggestions anyone?

source

#2) Junior Mints. Never was there a candy so chocolately- (it's a word, now, okay?) glazed in perfection. I've never tried, but I'm pretty sure I could eat Junior Mints every day. I'm guessing I shouldn't, but then, we did just acquire #6....

source

#3) Coincidentally, we bought this exact CD for my brother this Christmas. I haven't had a chance to even listen to it yet (having only been its recipient a mere four days ago) but I listen to some of it online all the time so I plan to do so very soon. The only reason why I'm not listening to it right now is because the Little Goat is fast asleep in our room and that's where our presents are hiding out for the time being.

source

#4) Socks. All of us got socks this year. I can always use socks. Especially when on the first very cold day of winter I sadly discovered that my favourite pair of Smartwool socks has a huge hole in the bottom. How that escaped me last season I can't figure, but I now have a grand total of FIVE replacement pairs of socks to keep my tootsies toasty all winter! Woot!

#5) Cash. Some people think cash is a cop-out, just an easy (perhaps lazy) way to give a gift. I disagree. When giving a gift to someone you're close to, sometimes the fun it letting that person pick out something they've secretly had an eye on; letting them save the money for exactly the right moment when they spot the Perfect Thing - a thing you might have passed over or missed in a hurry to choose a gift. It's also a lovely expression of love when the giver doesn't have the physical fortitude or ability (or is too far away and mailing a box would be too expensive) to spend time shopping themselves. We got some greatly appreciated monetary gifts for Christmas and so far we've made a grand total of two purchases with said cash: a toboggan for the kids (which Squawky hates, by the way) and...see #6.

#6) This was a complete surprise! I've been hinting about it for weeks (months, maybe) but figured I should stop because even I was getting tired of hearing myself talk about it. We got a couple of very nice Christmas gifts of cash (see #5) and LJ suggested we divvy it all up and get whatever we wanted. We've since changed out minds and no gesture was a greater expression of that decision than the secretive purchase of this on Wednesday. LJ's parents were visiting and he was at work. The rest of us were out for the day and when we got home, it was sitting in the garage! The only downside is that I am now officially Without Excuse. It's got lots of nifty exercise workouts pre-programmed so I'll let you know how it goes.

source

Two thousand ten was a bittersweet year for us. We've been so richly blessed with so much but the realization that time is rapidly slipping away from us in other areas has been difficult. We are grateful for how far God has brought our little family and for all the special moments He allowed us to have and all the sweet, sweet memories He created for us this Christmas.

Now, the New Year has begun. Turning over a page on a calendar (we really should get a new one, shouldn't we?) doesn't change much that's happening in our lives, but it does give us hope in the sovereignty of God to carry us through another 12 months. May you be blessed beyond anything you can imagine and in ALL things in 2011.

P.S. The pork roast turned out great! In fact, everything about the meal was lovely.

Sunday (Except really it's Saturday) Six

2010-12-25T17:07:00.003-05:00

Now I'm speed-blogging. It's Christmas afternoon, the pork roast is in the oven (I've never actually cooked one before so we'll see how it goes); the applesauce is done, the potatoes are soaking, the carrots are all ready, still have salad to make and jell-o jigglers to shaperize.

Without further adieu, here are six things I 'love' (sorry I haven't got time to post pictures of everything!).

#1) Boxing Day - I realize it's not a holiday celebrated in the U.S., and honestly, having no servants, it's not one we celebrate in its purest form at our house either, BUT, it's a great excuse to have a day off (in most cases) and for those who love shopping, it's the Canadian equivalent of Black Friday.

#2) This recipe for fun jell-0 treats. We're not having them today but we made them last week for a family Christmas gathering and they went over like beer, er, lemonade on a hot summer day! Fun to make, fun to look at.

#3) This is not exactly the same as the one I got for Christmas but I knew it was coming and I was even dreaming about it last night! I can hardly wait to use it this week. Now to decide on a good muffin recipe to use....

And now I shall tell you about three things we never knew we needed until Christmas Eve/Christmas Day:

#4) This item would've come in handy Christmas morning. The girls missed naps yesterday so they slept in this morning and even when the Little Goat woke up, she wasn't terribly interested in opening presents. She wanted to look at the tree and then come back to give me a hug and a kiss and curl up in bed with us. Awww...

#5) This also would've come in handy Christmas morning after Squawky dumped a large portion of her little Christmas stocking cookie box all over her clothes - and the floor. *sigh*

#6) This came in handy on Christmas Eve when we realized 'ACK! All the grandparents are going to be around for the next week and we have nothing to pull the kids around in outside when we go skating at the park, etc!' Plus, Erin K. and Co. came over yesterday afternoon for playing in the snow and then hot chocolate and chocolate fondue. (Wow - do kids ever play well together when they're all sugared up!)

What about you? Is there anything you realized after the fact that you might've asked for for Christmas? What is your favourite present you received? Did you make a new special memory? I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas holiday! Enjoy the last week of the year!

*************************

And if you missed last week's post, can I encourage you to check out this entire Andrew Peterson CD. You have to click through each song to hear it but they're beautiful songs - not just for Christmas but anytime.

Sunday Skip?

2010-12-19T00:32:00.005-05:00

I know, I know. I just came back and I'm bailing on you already. But it's pretty much midnight, we've had a vastly productive and full day - cheesecake making, jell-o dessert making, carmel popcorn making, present wrapping, label making, grocery shopping, and a trip to America to mail presents - and we're T.I.R.E.D. Which doesn't explain why I just watched Friday Night Lights instead of going to bed early.

At any rate, I would tell you six things I love and be all fancy-like with pictures and numbers. Instead, here's six Christmas songs I pretty much could listen to all day....beautiful, beautiful, beautiful....

#1) Love Came Down at Christmas - JOC
#2) Good King Wenceslas - as performed by the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir
#3) Glory - BDW
#4) What Child is This? - MM
#5) O, Holy Night - NB
#6) While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night - Andrew Peterson

Sunday Six: 2.0

2010-12-10T22:58:00.006-05:00

I married a slightly geeky geek (no, really - he's playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii right now). I myself could in some instances be considered a slightly geeky geek. Therefore I present to you six slightly geeky (but significantly super awesome) gadgets that I think would only bring my slightly geeky geekiness to a whole new (and superbly brilliant) level (and yes, half of them are culinarily-minded items. So there.).

#1: Because who wouldn't want to store their keys this way?

(source)

#2: So many uses....such as achieving Mad Scientist Level 4...or actually not wrecking my brain doing math to convert foreign recipes.

(source)

#3: This way, I could fall asleep while watching the minutes tick by but wake up with "improved vitality and mood."

(source)

#4: Up until this very moment, I had no idea what a raclette actually was, but I see now that it involves cheese - SWISS cheese even - so I'm pretty much sold. Now I *need* it not simply because it looks cool but also because it MELTS CHEESE.

(source)

#5: This isn't something I actually need anymore, having no children presently in the strictly puree-eating phase, BUT, it looks super-cool, ridiculously practical, and the name makes me snigger.

(source)

#6: So perfect for life in my alternate (spy) universe! And if I couldn't have that, I'd carry one of these. Military grade, people!

(source)

So, tell me, if you could choose ONE of the above, which would you choose and why?

Sunday Six

2010-12-04T23:56:00.007-05:00

So my friend Jodie over at Velour started this list a while back called The Sunday Six. Every Sunday she posts a list (that was obvious, wasn't it?) of six things she loves...or perhaps just really likes. Like, a lot. Jodie has been one of my most ardent encouragers (it's a word now) to get back to blogging (but more on that another time). For now though, I think I'll stick to her suggestion to rip off her Sunday Six schtick. So here goes, Jodie, here goes.

one: this guy - even when he's not dressed as Mr. Cleaver. He turned 30 yesterday and as I type, he's out at the surprise party that I so ingeniously masterminded for him. A sneaky plan that actually made me so ill in my stomach I had to have a rest after lunch today.

two: these two yahoos. I mean, have you seen anything so cute? (Nope, didn't think so.) (And no, we don't make them go around wearing sunglasses all the time.)

three: this coffee, without which the zombie-like state I wake up in every morning would never cease. Caribou Coffee fuels my little world in the wee (or in most cases, the not-so-wee) morning hours.

four: Christmas. Truly, I used to loathe Christmas. Then we had one girl, then we had another and ever since, it's gotten better and better and I can hardly wait to dive into the Season after Thanksgiving.five: Grover. Need I say more:six: this toothbrush is AMAZING. And it makes me feel so fancy and planet-conscious (*eye roll*).
And there you have it. Next time I might even blog about actual thoughts I've been having as of late. Or if you're really lucky, I might actually tell you what's going on in our corner of the world - which might involve some thoughts. Aren't you lucky? I know, you're waiting with bated breath.

We interrupt this inexcusable blogging absence....

2010-11-21T14:25:00.003-05:00

....to bring you these hilarious videos.

My friend Rachelle posted this on Facebook and it had LJ and I in stitches. Hooray for satire!

Another friend posted this and it's so ridiculous it's funny. At first I thought it was a joke, but the lady in the commercial seems so convinced!

Enjoy!

Uh oh...

2010-08-23T14:48:00.002-05:00

The Little Goat: I'm a alligator, Mom. You're a alligator and Dad's a alligator.
Me: And what is Squawky?
LG: Squawky's a duck. I'm a alligator. I'm going to eat the duck!
Me: Oh no! That would make Mom sad. I don't want Squawky to get eaten. Who will you play with?
LG: Well not Squawky, anyway.

But in My Defense...

2010-07-30T17:01:00.002-05:00

...we were away for longer than planned on our holiday. We left July 2nd and had intended to be back on the 14th, but LJ's Nana passed away on the 12th (it's a cool story, I'll tell it to you sometime), so we ended up staying a week longer.

Anyway, I'm presently in the throes of getting the laundry done and house tidied so we can skedaddle off for the weekend again. This time, to Grand Forks for a Post-Holiday Holiday. We used one of those 'choose-what-you're-willing-to-pay' websites last night and got a steal on a room (essentially half-price) at a nice hotel with *phew* a pool AND hot breakfast. The Little Goat was more than just a little excited when I told her she could have waffles for breakfast AND go swimming.

So to tide you over until I'm back, here's a few pictures from our adventures in Washington. Okay, well, nevermind. Blogger won't let me upload pictures. Sorry!!

The Birthdays

2010-06-28T16:34:00.005-05:00

I get to the end of June and I can never figure out what happened to April and May...and the beginning of June for that matter. It seems like my birthday was ages ago and in fact, it was only a month and a half ago. And now here we are and it's already been a week and a half since the girls' birthdays.

The Little Goat and Squawky both seemed to enjoy their day. We had "special birthday pancakes" for breakfast. Squawky got a number 1 and the LG got a number 3. By the time she finished it and asked for another special birthday pancake, I was finished making them all, so she ended up eating both a 'balloon' and a 'moon'. (I was all ready with 'ball' and 'polka dot'...)

After breakfast a friend called and invited us to the beach so we got all packed up and away we went. The LG has never been a fan of the beach. She doesn't love sand and doesn't like swimming either. I had to carry her over the sand the first time and she responded with a howl when I dipped her feet in the water. Fortified by lunch, however, she was ready to go play in the sand and she and her little friend actually played nicely together and found common purpose in destroying the sandy lobster molds we made. It was fun to watch them. And because our daughters daily like to confound us and reinforce that they are two very different girls, Squawky LOVED the water! She stood up in the water and started kicking her feet and splashing. When I think about it, I'm not really sure why I'm surprised.

The rest of the day was rounded out with naps, birthday supper (grilled cheese with a side of...cheese) and a trip for ice cream which Squawky refuses to try (I'm guessing because it's cold), and of course presents. So here you are, the day in pictures (ignore the dates on the pictures; I think the camera clock is wrong).

Oh...and a funny story!
The friend we went to the beach with has boys and the oldest was getting dried off and changing from swim trunks to shorts. Three-year-olds aren't necessarily noted for their modesty and the Little Goat got a pretty good glimpse of a certain little body part.
LG: Mom, what's THAT funny thing?
Me: That's part of what makes M a boy.
M (to his Mom): Mom, what's so funny? What are you guys laughing at?

And shortly after they all left:
LG: Mom, M has a finger on his bum.
Me: It's not a finger, dear, it's a special boy part.

I should tell you that the last time we went to the beach together, we made sure to hold up towels around the kids.

Playing - together! - after Birthday Breakfast.

Practicing to be a vigilant lifeguard?

Beautiful, even when she's just playing.

By the time we walked home from the beach...

Enjoying birthday ice cream.

Almost ready for the end of the day.

1, 3

2010-06-16T16:34:00.003-05:00

Many days still go by when I cannot believe I'm actually a mother - and also many days when I think maybe I shouldn't be. Kids' birthdays are good for many things but not the least of which is to remind us that we've actually survived motherhood (or fatherhood) for another year!

Tonight, at 10:02, LJ and I will celebrate the technical beginning of parenting the Little Goat which began in 2007. Twenty minutes later, we'll celebrate the technical beginning of parenting Squawky, which began a mere 12 months ago, even though it seems like she's been around a lot longer.

In celebrating parenthood, we are so grateful for God's grace. for His gift of these two fantastic, beautiful girls. We love you two - and we wouldn't trade you for anyone! Happy birthday, Little Goat! Happy birthday, Squawky!

A Conversation

2010-06-15T09:51:00.002-05:00

Me: So, Little Goat, do you still like your special little bed?
LG: Yes. I would like it to move back to Mom & Dad's big room. Mom & Dad would like to share a room with me.
Me: No. Mom & Dad don't want to share a room with anyone.
LG: Are we taking my special little bed to Nana & Papa's?
Me: I don't think it will fit on the airplane! It's too big!
LG: We can put it in the airplane.
Me: No, Dear, it won't fit.
LG: We can put it in the airplane and we can dribe the airplane to Nana & Papa's house!

Summary

2010-06-04T09:18:00.004-05:00

So my birthday this year was fantastic! LJ actually planned a birthday party for me (in three days!) and even though it rained, everybody had a good time - LJ even came home early from work so he could help get everything ready and cook.

Next up was Mother's Day. We were rushed getting in to The Big City, but it turned out we really weren't on that tight a schedule. As we were driving through the city, we were passing through a familiar neighbourhood; I've known quite a few people who've lived there. Then we got to 'M' Street and everything fell into place: "HEY! Lindsay lives on 'M' Street! We're going to Lindsay's house! Does that mean we get to leave the children and go on a date?!"

Well, no, not exactly. [And as a sidebar here, let me give you a word of warning that getting a little too excited about the prospect of dropping your kids off somewhere is maybe not the best idea if you want to keep them from FREAKING OUT.] LJ had been planning this surprise for no less than THREE weeks! We got to Lindsay's, fed, watered, and bathroomed the kids, and then LJ gave me some money and said 'have fun!' He took the kids to the zoo (well, the gift shop anyway because the zoo was about to close) and Lindsay and I went shopping. Then we met back up with LJ, the kids, and Lindsay's boyfriend for supper. Seriously, it ranks right up there as one of the best 'surprises' ever. I have no idea how LJ will ever top all this celebrating next year.

Oh, and as the icing on the cake of all this celebrating, I ended up with not one, but three new CDs: for our anniversary, I got a Simon & Garfunkel greatest hits CD (in lieu of some very expensive tickets to the concert in The Big City), for my birthday, the new Starfield album (Have you heard them? They're really good! They love Jesus and the lead singer was a lunch-buddy of mine in college...and he's a HUGE U2 fan.), and for Mother's Day, the new Swell Season record (kind of folksy and well...swell).

LJ also had his appointment with the glaucoma specialist in The Big City which was a debacle all its own. And when I am better able to laugh about it, I will tell you the story.

We spent May Long Weekend in my hometown with my parents, played a round of golf on possibly the coldest May day in my recent memory, watched the series finale of Lost (and boy, am I glad I didn't waste six tv 'seasons' of my life on THAT), and concluded the weekend with a drive home I hope to NEVER repeat. EVER. (I'm not laughing about that one yet either.)

Last weekend, my parents came out here and we celebrated my Dad's birthday. Next up is the girls' birthdays on the 16th. So soon! The Hello Kitty invites will be 'in the mail' this week. *gasp*

Birthdays....and Other Signs of Aging

2010-05-04T09:17:00.002-05:00

I read an article the other day called "30 Things You Should Do Before You Turn 30."
According to that article I have failed miserably at enjoying my 20s. I didn't travel the world solo, get a job in Australia (one of the 30 things I might actually have considered doing at some point); I didn't mud wrestle at a giant music festival or get a free condom at the Love Parade in Germany. What I did do in my 20s was get married, move to a foreign country, move across said foreign country, make a lot of amazing friends, and have two of the most beautiful kids in the universe.

Thirty has gone by so quickly. I think thirty was supposed to feel different, the start of something other than just a new decade of life, the first steps on the Road to Greater Maturity. Thirty was a pretty epic year: We sold our first house, celebrated our seventh anniversary, celebrated my 30th birthday (oh Cracker Barrel, how I miss you)...my Mom battled cancer (and won!), LJ started a new job, and most exciting, we moved Home to Canada just in time for Squawky's arrival - and that was just in the first six months!

So thirty was good, but 31 already feels like the 'real' new beginning. We're more settled and less in a state of flux. This is Home now and I feel like we've been here for years already. We love it here! Looking outside this morning it's an almost perfect spring day. The grass is green, the sky is a little blue with big puffy white clouds. The leaves are almost fully out and waltzing in the breeze. I can look down the street one direction and see a friend's house, I can look down the street in the other direction and see another friends house...we are incredibly blessed - even on the 'bad' days.

Thirty-one holds a lot of possibilities - first steps, first words, first written words - so here's to the hope of another year, here's to continued contentment. Here's to another year of living life and loving my family in a place I never thought I'd be, in a place I can't imagine ever leaving.

*******************
And also - happy birthday to my birthday twin! I love you, Brenda!

Here.

2010-04-26T09:35:00.002-05:00

Spring is here and we've been busy getting outside and walking, exercising, and watching these kids grow! Squawky is way beyond army crawling now; she's pulling up and walking alongside furniture. It's incredible the rate at which her gross motor skills have developed compared to the Little Goat who didn't walk until after a year. Every day it is more apparent just how different our girls are.

The LG is developing in her own areas. She can recognize a little over half of the alphabet when she sees the letters (even some upside down!), though we haven't made much progress on memorizing them. She's been enjoying our walks and reading books. Yesterday, when she was outside with LJ she told him she wanted to "dig the garden." Soon. We went out to feed Earl the Squirrel ('he' and 'Alice' live in our backyard) and instead of leaving one of the pieces of bread on the log by the fire pit, she just sat down and ate it. Luckily, Earl found the chunk of bread on top of the shed a little while later.

The trees in our backyard have almost all started to leaf out just in this past week, the tulips are about to bloom and some of the flowers we planted last summer actually made it through the winter and are about to bloom too. All of this is happening quite a bit earlier than usual this year. I can't think of an April in recent memory when I could wear just a tshirt outside and be roasting. Hopefully it's not an indication of how hot it will be this summer because me and heat - not the closest friends.

Speaking of heat. The guys that live in the tiny house beside us (really, everybody around here knows it as The Little House) are getting ready to move out sometime this summer. They rent and the owner has plans to build a house. In the meantime, they have been cutting and burning trees/wood on the property to help clear it off. We're pretty sure it has digressed almost entirely to the point of simply seeing how high they can make the flames go during their weekend bonfires. We've seen flames at least 15 feet high and the pile of stuff waiting to burn is crazy! At least 48 wood pallets, the cut logs from two trees that were at least three stories tall each. Oh, and a shed. Yes, they are slowly dismantling an entire shed. (We're wondering if they're going to take apart and burn the house piece by piece too.) It's really quite the sight behold.

In other news, the missions team from our church left last Wednesday for Indonesia for two weeks. For the month of April, there is a challenge at church to walk/run during the week to see if collectively we can walk the distance to Indonesia. I can't remember what the total number of kilometers walked so far is, but my personal total is 85km in the least three weeks and I'm pretty excited about that!

I have a post half-written about our Lenten experience this year and I really want to get it up on the blog. Finding time to write has been a challenge lately though but I'm shooting for sometime this week. Er, hopefully. Hope everybody's enjoying some nice spring weather wherever you are!

Nine Months Already!

2010-03-20T14:44:00.004-05:00

Squawky was nine months this past Tuesday. I can hardly believe that much time has gone by already. The Little Goat, of course, marked her two years and nine months milestone. Just as cute, but only willing to be photographed as her alter-ego "Penguin Banquet."

And because I know you love some gratuitous cuteness:

Amor Patriae

2010-03-08T10:27:00.004-05:00

The Olympics are finally over (we won some gold medals, did you know?) and it was quite the whirlwind two weeks of addictive sports viewing. The Little Goat has discovered skiing...at least vicariously for now. Last week she saw a huge mound of snow in a parking lot and told me she wanted to "go skiing on that hill. Grampa hode you." I chortled my reply, "No dear, as funny as that would be, Grampa doesn't ski. He'll hold you when you go skating though!"

Speaking of, yesterday was her last skate of the season (it's finally getting too warm out) and LJ said there was really only one good patch of ice left on the rink. The LG kept seeing patches of grass where the ice had melted away: "Hay for the horses! Hay for the horses!"

Let's see if I can put in point form a few other things that have happened since last I was here.

- Squawky has in actual fact, gotten louder. Ikea doesn't need to play birds-of-prey sounds anymore to keep smaller birds from nesting in their parking garages, they just need a recording of Squawky at suppertime. Sheesh! She's also started pulling up on the crib rails, army crawling a little as of late last week, and her first tooth is a week and two days old!

Squawky's first tooth!

- We won some gold medals.

- First tooth = great but also = biting. :(

- We won some gold medals.

- We went to two baby showers, one baby dedication, and one surprise 30th birthday party.

Me holding my newest little cousin! Cute, even when she was crying.

- We won some gold medals.

- My cousin finally got engaged (YAY!)!

- We won some gold medals.

- The last baby in our church small group arrived last Tuesday. A BOY! *gasp* Will he have his pick of girls someday or what!?

- We won some gold medals.

- Lent started and so did our fast from yeast/leaven. We declared a few exceptions though - crackers are still allowed and we are taking a one-day moratoriam for St. Patrick's Day (LJ was more than a little concerned that we were going to have to go without beer on St. P's Day). So far it's been okay but some days....what I wouldn't give for piece of bread and a cookie! Oi!

- We won some gold medals. Did I mention that already?

Now we're looking forward to St. Patrick's Day (Guinness stew and Guinness brownies!), LJ's surgery and subsequent week (off!) of recuperating, the winter fair in my hometown (which is HUGE), and Easter (baskets, bunnies, eggs! Love, The Resurrection, and GRACE!)! And after that? The start of our season of celebration around here which will include several anniversaries, at least six birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and a slew of new babies! And, obviously, continued reveling in all of Canada's gold medals. (You didn't know Canadians could be so immodest, did you?)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T00:22:00.002-05:00

In retrospect, we probably should've taken the LG's picture first. Thankfully, Squawky didn't eat the whole thing.

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

2010-02-12T11:28:00.004-05:00

The LG and I have been crafting and baking this week and today is no different only our theme is baby shower cookies and cupcakes (photos to follow pending the outcome).

Presently, the LG is working on tower construction (future engineer?) and Squawky is sitting up but pending over like an ostrich attacking her toes to chew on them (future contortionist?).

Come back on Saturday/Sunday for your official Valentine's greeting!

Just a Couple More Pictures

2010-02-02T14:58:00.002-05:00

Squawky enjoying her oatmeal.

The Little Goat sporting spectacular spectacles!

What? Deep thoughts? From me?!

2010-02-02T14:20:00.004-05:00

Hardly.

It turns out January is ALREADY OVER which I find a little hard to believe. We had a great two weeks at my parent's place...except for the fact that Squawky hardly slept the first week and improved very little in that department the second week. The Little Goat had, in two weeks, only one truly successful day of potty training so we're not really any further on that front either.
I, on the other hand (because it's all about me, right?) actually got to go hang out with my friend Chandra. We went to an actual theater (my first theater movie in a LONG time!) and saw Leap Year and then went and shared some tasty cheesecake. All without children!

This month, we're going to be working on some organizational projects around here, particularly the girls' room. I should take before-and-after pictures. It looks just awful after the little we sorted this morning. There are boxes and piles of clothes all over the floor. The time has come though because we moved Squawky out of our room (HALLELUJAH!) and her stuff needs to be sorted into her dresser instead of being in a heap in a laundry basket, which means we may as well sort EVERYTHING all at once. So, she and the LG are officially sharing a room and so far, it's going pretty well.

Oh yes! Squawky started solids at the beginning of January which really consisted of trying applesauce in tiny portions twice. Then we quit until we were at my parent's. We tried applesauce one night and banana the next. Then applesauce again. Mom and I determined it really wasn't doing anything for her sleeping and seemed to be making her ill so we ended that. But yesterday morning I fed her some oatmeal cereal with fruit and it was a hit. The brown rice at suppertime was an even bigger hit! At first I was annoyed because I thought I had mixed way too much and would just end up throwing it away, but I momentarily forgot who we were feeding. She practically inhaled it! I'm attributing her slightly better night to her fuller belly. She actually had a three-hour stretch!

Enough of that. You're here for the pictures, I know.

Getting ready to go skating!

First time skating! She's really Canadian now!

Squawky stayed inside with Grama.

The LG wearing the "scarsp" she made with Grama.

Thoughts on the Eve of Newness

2009-12-31T19:53:00.013-05:00

It's been since November 5th and even for me, this is one truly abysmal blogging absence. I won't fool myself and promise greater things for the new year, though I'd surely like to.

It's been a VERY busy couple of months around here. Halloween, visits with my parents, lots of get-togethers with friends and our small group from church, and lots of potty training and baby-feeding. Two good friends are expecting babies, um, tomorrow; other friends just had a little boy yesterday so we are happily ringing in the new year celebrating new life! All of this excitement is good, of course, but tiring. We're looking forward to the New Year particularly for the chance that January affords to take a deep breath after this busy end of 2009.

Naturally, I've had all these great posts rolling around in my head at odd hours of the morning but by the time I come to a fully alert state at, say, noon, I've got no time left to write and I can't remember all those deep thoughts anyway.

To compensate, I will leave you with our best wishes to you and yours for a spectacular 2010, and a picture or two of the Little Goat and the Squawk Box (who is squawking at this very moment) both of whom I'm sure you will note have grown enormously since I last posted. Know that we are thinking of you and I miss you guys even if I haven't had a chance to really read blogs for a while now.

Looking cute, as usual.

Racing cars with George.

First time bowling.

First time meeting Santa (not a fan).

First snow.

First snow guy (my skillz are a little rusty).

Followed by first hot chocolate.

First gingerbread house (last year we had a g-bread tree) made with Grama.

First Christmas concert (Cutest. Angel. Ever.).

Getting ready for her first Christmas!

First Christmas present (the date on the picture is off by one).

How we feel now that the holidays are over.

Ditto.

Sad.

2009-11-05T15:21:00.003-05:00

If any of you are of the praying persuasion, please pray for my old college friend J and are husband D. Their little boy arrived very early and very prematurely on Tuesday. He was just 10 inches long and weighed only 14.3 ounces and lived for just four hours. Please pray for God's peace "that passes all understanding."

How Does She Do That!?

2009-10-29T16:16:00.002-05:00

This afternoon, it took the Little Goat forever to settle in for a nap, which actually never ended up happening because she needed a diaper change. At least she 'woke up' in a good mood. Points for her.

The Squawk Box took her time falling asleep too. In her defense, she's been sounding rather congested at night so maybe it's affecting her nap too.

Then, about five minutes ago, I'm just finishing up enjoying my afternoon game(s) of Mahjong.

It goes just like this:

Me: Well, LG, I'm going to the kitchen to start cooking.
The Squawk Box: WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

And also...

2009-10-27T11:03:00.002-05:00

...last night I put the Squawk Box in clean pajamas.

They are size 9 months.

They fit. Perfectly.

This is What the Internet Was Made For

2009-10-27T10:52:00.002-05:00

So Sunday night, the stars aligned and the interwebs came together for two brief hours of perfection.

We had been talking to a friend in Edmonton earlier in the afternoon about the possibility of a U2 show there next summer and the chance of us driving out for it. So we went on the official U2 website to see what we could find out. It was then we discovered that later that evening, they were broadcasting the concert from Los Angeles LIVE on YouTube. LIVE! Possibly the biggest concert ever with a mere 90,000 people in attendance.

Needless to say, it only started at 9PST so we were up LATE and, in fact, didn't even watch to the very end, resulting in my missing not just one, but two of my favourite songs ever. We did, however see a little over half the show.

Yes, there we were, enjoying U2 live, serenading us from our laptop, while we sat in the dark, on our bed, in our jammies, I nursing a baby. If that wasn't a moment the internet was made for - I can't think of a better one.

Conversations

2009-10-27T10:48:00.002-05:00

Our neighbour has been out in his backyard the last few days working on fixing up a trailer to pull behind his truck.
Yesterday when I was finishing up getting dressed after my shower, the Little Goat walked in:

LG: That MA-AN was DOING something!
Me: Oh? What was he doing?
LG: Man doing SOMETHING!
Me: What was he doing? He wasn't doing anything bad, was he?
LG: Man building bad boat.
Me: What? I don't think he's building a boat....
LG: It ice cream boat!

Uh huh.

No Prompting Required

2009-10-23T12:00:00.001-05:00

The other morning, after saying grace before breakfast, I asked the Little Goat "LG, what are you thankful for?"

I expected her to say 'cereal' or 'pancakes' or 'trees', but instead she said:

"Thankful for Mama and Dad."

Group Growth

2009-10-16T13:07:00.003-05:00

In a previous post I was telling you a little about our small group and all the kids. Well, it turns out kids aren't invited so now we're trying to figure out what to do, and convince ourselves it's worth it to actually PAY a babysitter (everybody else has parents in town) two evenings a month when we're not even going out on a date. Hm....

Also, did I sat 11 kids? Yeah, I meant 12. The baby that was due in September is here (another girl!) and another couple joined our group and she's due January 1st (just like Erin K.!). So, yeah, make that 12 kids, five newborns among them. Jody and I are hoping the next two will be baby girls too because won't that be fun? Five little girls, all born within nine months of each other!

And that is all.

Supper is Late

2009-10-16T12:51:00.003-05:00

Yesterday the girls and I all had our first doctor's appointments with our new doctor. LJ picked her out for us (out of the 26 that work at the clinic) and she is perfect! I didn't have to be weighed or measured; she checked my blood pressure ("low-side of normal") and that was that. The girls, of course, screamed bloody murder when she tried to use the stethoscope and look in their ears, but Dr. H was great. This was not to mention the LG's clearly horrifying experience with the scale in the lab when it was her turn for weight/height.* There are definitely some advantages to being married to a medical professional who has an office right around the corner. Dad to the rescue!

Anyway, before we left, I was trying to remember how to program our oven so it would turn on at 5:30 and bake for 30 minutes at 350 so the lasagna would be nice and hot (thanks for bringing it over, Mom!) and ready to eat when we got home.

Well after all that hoopla with the timer, when we got home and walked in the door, I did NOT smell lasagna. In fact, while the smell was pleasant, I didn't smell any food cooking at all! Why, you ask? WHY? Because there was a freaking POWER OUTAGE while we were out! ARGH!

On top of that, today I find out the broiler no longer functions. Boo!

*For anyone keeping track, the latest measurements are:
Little Goat: (weight) 30 lbs, 7 oz; (height) 2' 11" (75th percentile for both)
Squawk Box: (weight) 16 lbs, 8 oz; (height) 2' 2" (95th percentile for both - yikes!)

That's My Girl!

2009-10-16T12:41:00.003-05:00

The other day, the Little Goat was playing in the kitchen. Exploring, really, while I made chicken pot pie for supper. While I was washing dishes, she was standing beside me playing with the mixer attachments.

"This fits on like this!" she said as she put an attachment on the Kitchen Aid!

Oh I love that girl - twenty-eight months and she's already mastering the mixer!

And....We've Been Back for a While Now

2009-10-09T11:00:00.003-05:00

So the auction was great! My Dad picked out a few things for the LG at the kids table, I got a sweet set of truck books (used, of course, but in nearly perfect condition) for the LG's little cousin's birthday coming up in November. We also got some homemade noodles, some honey, and a white 3-drawer dresser for the Squawk Box for only thirty dollars! Of course, that was two weeks ago and there's still nothing IN said dresser, but it's in the girls' room. That's a good start for around here. I also got a few things for other birthdays coming up and for Christmas. My mom got a great box full of veggies for eight bucks - cabbage, peppers, carrots, onions, tomatoes, parsley, and potatoes. And the food! Oh, the food! They sold something like 1400 perogies and 836 pieces of pie!

There were lots of donated pies left over and of course, my dad bought two. And then, of course, I didn't balance the box very well on the stool in my parent's kitchen and the lemon pie hit the deck rather unceremoniously. So much for that. The crust was soggy anyway (yes, even too soggy for me!).

Let's see. Oh here's a funny story for you. The week before we left, on the Tuesday, I went to this ladies function at church. I had no idea it was such a big deal and left the house woefully underdressed. Comparatively speaking. (But LJ had gotten home late and I didn't really have time to change anyway, nevermind feed the SB before we walked out the door!) I wanted to melt into the wall. And then it came time for the doorprize and I was thinking I just shouldn't have entered in the first place. There were three prizes and never in my life have I sat there wishing more 'oh, please don't call my name, please don't call my name.'

So the first name was called.

Phew.

The second name was a lady at our table.

Phew.

('Please don't call my name, please don't call my name.')

"Bren J.!"

Oh. Great.

So I sheepishly skulked up to the front, got my candle and sat down. And let me tell you - as soon as things were winding down, I bolted! Never again! Aside from that, I didn't enjoy it much anyway. No matter if I'd been a little more dressed up. For a church function, it was just too....fluffy. There are other women's studies/activities to be involved in though and I'm grateful for that.

*******
And now, two hours later, I am back to write some more. This is my life. Getting bits and pieces done between changing diapers, feeding the kids, and other distractions - like the SNOW that is bravely attempting to fall. I wish you guys could hear inside my head at 3am (or 12:30, or 5, or hey, even 7). I do some of my best blog writing when I'm sitting up in the middle of the night. My writing talents could astound you if only such a Thing existed (and was affordable) that could type while I dictate silently in the wee hours.

Goodness, this post is generally abyssmal. Better luck next time!

Behind

2009-09-22T10:00:00.004-05:00

Here I am falling behind on blogging and everything else again. We're busy doing laundry today and getting ready to be away for a week. The girls and I are going to my parent's place and LJ is headed to MN for a conference. He is really excited and for good reason. I'm hoping I can maybe go next year too. We'll see.

I'll have my own fun this week though. My best friend is finishing up a distance-ed course and I promised her a chocolate truffle and coffee at one of our favourite high school haunts if she finishes by Friday (a few days earlier than the deadline).

On Saturday, we're going to a HUGE MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) Auction. If you're not familiar with MCC, Google it. Among other things, MCCers give humanitarian aid all over the world. Because us Mennonites, we're everywhere you know. You probably have some of us hiding out in your town just waiting to help. Okay, maybe not. But we are quite a ubiquitous people.

Earlier this summer, LJ and I participated in the School Kit project. It was super easy. We picked up a few pre-made tote bags and filled them with notebooks, pencils, an eraser, a ruler, and some pencil crayons. They get collected at various points and sent all around the world for kids in developing countries that can't afford school supplies on their own.

so this auction is big and lots of people sell lots of things, specifically, Menno FOOD which will make me (but not so much my butt) very happy. After Saturday, I'll tell you all about it.

Thought I better post a few pics of the girls because you know, a little cuteness never ruined anyone's day....

I should clarify that this smiling-while-on-the-toilet business is rare.
LJ must've done something very funny...

Thrice

2009-09-05T10:29:00.003-05:00

The third time's a charm. Right? RIGHT? Please tell us it's true!

This morning we began Potty Training Attempt #3. If you've been following the blog for a while you know that the Little Goat was actually potty trained already in Spring, but then we moved back to Manitoba and eight days in a U-Haul didn't do much for any of us, but particularly the LG. By the time we got here she was no longer potty trained.

My Mom made a valiant second effort a few weeks after the Squawk Box was born but to no avail. It was AWFUL. We gave up after just a couple of days.

This time we have to get it right. It's Saturday and we gave up going to Airport City for some shopping to muddle through this drudgery. I'm not even sure the LG's being potty trained is going to be a whole lot of convenience for us but we must soldier on, no?

We had success right off the bat this morning but it soon dissolved into a pool of tantrum-endowed tears, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then we had breakfast. We've already gone through three pairs of training pants in three hours and maybe we should've just let her run around naked in the yard all day. I don't know.

Anyway, think of us today when you're changing a diaper or taking your talented child to the bathroom. We'll be here, exhausted and hopefully not too exasperated, and maybe, just maybe, at the end of it all, potty trained.

Productivity

2009-09-04T11:14:00.005-05:00

It's the middle of the afternoon. I've just finally had a shower and let me divulge to you the new depths of my lameness: I changed from one pair of grey sweats into another pair of grey sweats (only slightly shorter and a slightly lighter shade) and from one green tank top to another green tank top (slightly longer, slightly darker shade of green). It's really sad, I know. But it shook things up from the rest of the week - I was wearing black sweat pants most of the time! Har!

This week has been relatively productive on the homefront and I finally feel like we're settling into some real routine and it's been great!

Yesterday morning I swept, vacuumed, and mopped all but one room on the main floor before 9am. I've been sticking pretty close to our menu plan for the week - adapting as needed - with a great degree of success. The girls have settled into a sort of regular naptime (for now, right?) and the Little Goat is getting to bed more consistently around 8:30. I haven't gotten all the things accomplished that I've wanted to this week and come Saturday night at midnight, I'll still have half my to-do list sitting there impatiently, but this week has had such a pleasant rhythm about it.

I don't remember anything particular about Monday, but Tuesday morning we went to playgroup. Tuesday night we went to a small group meeting (through our church) during which the group amicably divided into two smaller groups to facilitate better future growth - both relationally and physically. We're excited about our group as we ended up with people we already knew even before we moved back here. But - yikes! - there will be (after mid-February) 11 kids* and eight adults! LJ and I have agreed to host once/month but we have no idea how to figure things logistically so the kids can play with minimal supervision and the adults can have some meaningful discussion. (Any suggestions?)

Wednesday morning, the LG, the Squawk Box and I went for a walk with Mrs. Knight ("Brs. Tight" as the LG calls her). We met at church a few weeks ago but it feels like we've known each other much longer already! We've been walking every Wednesday morning and hope to keep that up "until life changes," she says.

Yes, or until it's -40C outside.

Yesterday we met up with the illustrious Erin K. & her Monkey at the library ("abby" - LG). Then they came over for a nice lunch; bread, cheese, jam, fruit salad, and tea.

Today has been rather uneventful as far as going out is concerned. We read some of the books we got at the library yesterday. I finished the vacuuming, did a load of wash (there's still a pile of laundry sitting here beside me waiting to be folded), Facebooked for a bit while the LG played with her truck and "dad's rock." Then after naptime started, I had the aforementioned shower, made a pasta salad for supper tonight, a lemon meringue pie, and two types of no-bake squares to stash in the freezer for LJ's lunches or an emergency (we seem to be doing rather more entertaining here than when we lived in Maine).

So basically, this week has been exactly the way I hoped life would be living here.

Tomorrow we might go into Airport City to do some shopping ('breastfeeding melts away the pounds'? My foot, it does! MY FOOT!) and then we'll settle in to enjoy the long weekend and the beautiful weather we've been having. Here's hoping you and yours have a super weekend. Anybody have any big plans?

* Yes, eleven kids to eight adults.
Let me break that down for you:
5 year old: 1
3 year olds: 2
2 year olds: 4
Babies: 4: The SB, born in June; another little girl, born two weeks before the SB; and two more babies on the way - one in 2-3 weeks and one in February, both gender unknown.

Whip it Up, Week Eight - The Finale

2009-08-24T14:21:00.002-05:00

Okay, so for my last WIU recipe, I was going to make a recipe for glazed meatballs that I found, allspice being the star ingredient.

Well, I started making the recipe and realized I didn't have a lot of the ingredients so I modified a bunch of things. So much so that LJ said it wasn't really fair for me to say I even 'followed' the recipe. Even in the loosest sense of the word. Which means, lucky you guys, that I'm posting a recipe for Some Sort of Meatballs in a Rather Barbecuish Sauce. How's that for a title? Do you like it?

For the meatballs:
Thoroughly combine:
1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
3/4 c. quick oats
1 egg
(If it's not sticking together quite enough, add a tablespoon of milk at a time until you can roll a nice meatball.) Roll into balls and place in a 9x13 pan in a single layer. Broil for about 20 minutes or until no longer pink, flipping them over halfway through.

For the sauce:
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. orange juice
1/2 c. random bbq sauce (i.e. whatever you have around)
1/2 c. ketchup
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
Whisk all the sauce ingredients together in a saucepot or large skillet. Bring to a boil, add meatballs, and simmer for about 20-25 minutes or until sauce is quite reduced and meatballs are heated through. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes or whatever strikes your fancy.

The Big Three:
Was the recipe easy to follow? It would have been more-so if I hadn't been making it up as I went.
Did it taste good? Maybe a little on the salty side so you could cut back on the soy sauce.
Would you make it again? Yes! We agreed it might be nice over chicken and veggies too so maybe we'll try it that way sometime.

Whip it Up, Week Seven

2009-08-24T08:46:00.003-05:00

We've had a busy couple of weeks around here so I'm rather behind in posting my Whip it Up recipes.

For Week Seven, I made butter tart squares. My Mom and I have been trying to find just the right recipe for years but can't seem to get it right. Just for WIU, my quest began anew. I made this recipe.

Now I followed the recipe exactly so I don't know what I did wrong, but they were TERRIBLE. Not at all like a butter tart square should be. (Hm. Wait. Do you even know what a butter tart is? Thank goodness for the "wonder" that is Wikipedia.) They should be more gooey and less cakey.

We ended up chucking most of the pan because they were just that disappointing. Then I started looking through old cookbooks to see if I could find something better. Behold! I stumbled upon an almost-winner! After making them (they were a hit with LJ and the LG and my parents too!), I decided to post a modified version of the recipe because the crust on the dud recipe was better than on the second one. Sorry again for no pictures but when things taste yummy and we have company, they don't last long around here.

Butter Tart Squares:
Base:
1/2 c. butter
3 T. sugar
1 c. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
Cream butter and sugar. Cut in flour and salt until you have wee crumbs. Press in 8x8 pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until very lightly browned. Watch out for cracks because you don't want them!

Filling:
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 c. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. raisins or currants (optional)
Beat eggs until light in colour. Add brown sugar and beat well. Add lemon juice, butter and vanilla. Sprinkle raisins (if using) on base. Pour egg mixture over raisins. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until set.

The Big Three:
Was it easy to follow? Yes, now that I know what I'm doing.
Did it taste good? Um, yeah!
Would I make it again? Will do!

In Which I am Hot and Sweaty

2009-08-19T14:29:00.003-05:00

We've had a reasonably busy week here at Casa J. (or perhaps as a nod to the German-ness that is Southern Manitoba, I should say "J-er Haus"?)

On Monday night, our new church had a baby shower for the Squawk Box and me. That was fun. It was half women I had already met and half women I had not met - or at least not officially, and my mom made a special trip out for the shower too. We got a bunch of really cute outfits, some books, the cutest little pair of boots, and even a bouquet of roses. Mmm...

Yesterday morning, we went to playgroup (there are a TON of moms at our church here and we meet every Tuesday morning so the kids can play). I said to LJ last night: "LJ! Those women! I don't think they eat!" Yes, it's a little intimidating. Out of 20 or so women, the only one near my size is due September 21st. (I suppose this is really where the ability to bake just about anything successfully is both a good and bad gift, right?)

Anyway, after lunch and naptime, I put the SB in her bouncy seat and the LG and I put our feet in her turtle pool (she actually sat on the edge!). Then we picked up all the apples on the ground under the apple tree (Stupid tree! There are more apples on the ground than on the tree!). Then I noticed there are MORE on the ground this morning! By the time they're ripe enough to eat, we'll have like 6 apples left! Argh! BUT, the tree in the backyard that LJ thought was some sort of green plum really IS an apricot tree. I noticed they are finally starting to turn orange. So if they ever get ripe and are good enough to eat, we might just have apricots coming out our ears. Naturally, the only way I like them is in jam. Perhaps I'll have to try baking something with apricots or borrowing a dehydrator from somebody.

And now, in point form:
- I bought new laundry detergent the other day: Purex Natural Elements apple and melon. It smells delightful. Plus it's cheaperish and all "good for the environment." Wow, I am SUCH a Good Citizen of Planet Earth. *eye roll* Really though: it smells lovely.

- My left thumbnail has been split and splitting for about the past two months and it finally drove me crazy enough to use some of my mom's nail hardener which I swear I almost got high on when I used it Monday morning. Now my nails feel like they're suffocating.

- The Girls and I went over to this lady's house from church this morning. She and her husband live just up and around the corner. Her name's Linda and she's really nice. We ended up going for a long walk which was great, but I wasn't dressed for it and holy sweat, batman! I was just drenched and sticky and disgusting by the time we got back. Instead of going inside to visit, we came straight home, I changed the LG in quite a hurry and took off some of the SB's clothes so she'd cool down and then hopped in the shower. Oh and I put the a/c on first. Oh.So.Gross. I'm feeling better now and turned the a/c off cause it's kind of clouding over again and it's really not that hot out, just humid and we were walking in direct sun and oh I am so old, etc.

- Speaking of hot and humid, LJ just called me from work a little bit ago to let me know there's a tornado watch in effect for our area. Very weak tornadoes, mind you, BUT. STILL. TORNADOES. Eek! And Linda just called me too and we had a laugh since a portion of our conversation this morning revolved around tornadoes (pun intended).

- LJ and I are starting our own 'church' tonight. We decided that since the sermons at church don't go quite as in-depth as we're used to/what we were hoping for, we're going to do our own thing on Wednesdays nights, henceforth. Have you heard of Mars Hill church in Seattle? Their pastor, Mark Driscoll, is really great and they put all their sermons online (audio or video) and we decided we'll download one every week and work our way through a few series, then maybe try a different pastor, etc. I'm excited about it and we're starting Titus tonight which will be four weeks long. Then I think we're going to do the Peasant Princess series (on Song of Solomon). It should be good.

- I'm trying a new recipe tonight for some glazed meatballs but already I'm altering it because they look yummy. But really? a 1/2 cup of CHILI sauce? Um...I'm not feeling THAT adventurous. I think we'll use some smokey bbq sauce instead.

And now, I am torn because the girls are both napping and should I make the meatballs? have a nap? or download a movie?

Namesakes

2009-08-13T13:51:00.004-05:00

What? You demand more pictures? You demand more update?

Fine!

The weekend after LJ's parents left we headed out to my hometown for the wedding of an old friend of mine. We haven't seen each other in person since the LJ and I got married seven years ago. Good times! The wedding was fun and it was so great to reconnect with her even if we didn't get to visit that much. She didn't even mind that I inadvertently wore a sweater pretty much the exact shade of the bridesmaids dresses. Oops!

This past Friday, LJ and I went on a DATE. That's right, Friends, an actual DATE. To be fair, the Squawk Box had to accompany us, but she was pretty quiet most of the time. We put the Little Goat to bed at around nine and my cousin Shelley came over at 9:30 and LJ and I headed to the drive-in to see Up! If you haven't seen this movie yet, get ye to the theater! It's wondeful! Of course, I'm breastfeeding and hormonal so I cried a couple times, but the story was really sweet and quite funny. Very family-friendly.

On Saturday we got one of the best treats of all! Our very dear friends from WA, Forrest and Carole came out for an overnight visit. Shortly after the LJ and I got married, my parents met Forrest and Carole and they all hit it off and became fast friends. My Dad gave Forrest the special assignment of looking out for me and making sure LJ and I were doing all right. Well they've since become very dear friends of ours and like parents to me. We even lived in their basement for six weeks before we moved out to Maine; during which time my parents came to visit for two weeks and stayed with them too and it was like one nearly perfect party! Anyway, they've also become good friends with my parents and so spent three nights with them in my hometown too.

One of the Squawk Box's middle names is in honour of Carole and it was so sweet for them to meet. Fun was had, pictures were taken, and we can hardly wait until we get to see them again!

My friend Mel and me.

Check out the double-chin on this kid!

Not-so-double-chinned (and sitting with Grampa, by the way).

The Little Goat with, uh, a little goat.

Showing Grandpa Forrest & Grandma Carole what's in her purse.

Our girls with our friends. *sigh*

See that? Do you see it? It's a SMILE!

See THAT? It's laughing!

Some of This and Some of That

2009-08-13T13:14:00.004-05:00

A little over eight weeks ago, the Squawk Box was born. (Yes, that's right, "Squawk Box," so named by her father.) A little over eight weeks ago, the Little Goat turned two and has since, evidently, embarked on the toddler version of the Amish tradition of rumspringer. Blimey! It's like she's gone mad! The dancing! The tricks! The stall-tactics! The tantrums! If this is a taste of her teenage years to come then Lord, come quickly! indeed! This kid is KWAZY!

So I'll admit, the first few weeks of having two at home pretty much kicked my butt. I don't think I necessarily had the baby blues or anything more severe, but good grief! The wailing! In stereo! MAKE. IT. STOP. Things are getting better now as we're finally settling into a bit of a routine and it seems the LG is becoming more helpful and less jealous.

The Squawk Box is getting cuter every day too and sometime last week, I think we finally bonded. It's been helpful that she started smiling about three weeks ago (earlier than the LG) and laughing when you tickle her chin. Don't be deceived by her cuteness though, this kid is made of sturdy stuff! (That'll be her astute Mennonite heritage, no doubt.) She is so STRONG. She was trying to hold her head up already the morning we brought her home from the hospital and is getting better at it all the time. She's got a pretty sweet pair of lungs as is evidenced nightly between the hours of approximately 5-9pm, and an iron grip! I've caught her screaming a couple of times only because she grabbed some of her own hair in her hand and couldn't release her grip.

Let's see. What else has happened since I gave you a decent update last? LJ's parents came for two weeks in July. LJ had to work most of the time, but we did take an overnight trip to The City (where I also enjoyed perhaps the most comfortable hotel bed EVER) and he took the LG swimming in the hotel pool . We also went to the zoo and saw lots of zoo babies. Two highlights of the visit were strawberry picking (not sure if I have pictures) and going to Costco. Oh, dearest Costco, how we've missed you.

And now I should post pictures, I'm sure. Let's see if I can find some.

99.99999, etc. % pure gold. Mmmm.....

The LG with her face on a quarter!

Helping out the Squawk Box.

Out for ice cream with Mama & Dad and Nana & Papa - oh, and the Squawk Box.

Whip it Up, Week Six

2009-08-06T15:12:00.003-05:00

Who doesn't love a good cheese? When we lived in Washington, we would periodically visit this theme town called Leavenworth. It's built up in the Bavarian style and has some pretty nifty year-round activities. It also has some pretty nifty shops, but the Cheesemonger's Shop is a particular favourite of ours. English Cotswald, Garlic Herb Whirl, Applewood smoked cheddar and Dill Havarti are a few of my favourite cheeses; LJ favours anything smoked but is particularly fond of Cahills Irish Porter.

Another of my favourite cheeses is Boursin. If you've never tasted it, I can understand why. Over five dollars for a tiny little round is a bit pricey. Living in Washington, though, we were usually able to find it for 99 cents at the Grocery Outlet (yet another favourite store). It's got quite a soft creamy texture and a fine herby flavour. It's really nice with water crackers.

One day I was bumming around on Allrecipes.com and came across a blog wherein some very ingenius man posted his recipe for a homemade version of Boursin. What?! Homemade Boursin!? I'm IN!

So I looked around and compared a few recipes and finally settled on this one. I didn't have any marjoram (and still don't) so I have no clue how much it affects the taste, but the outcome is quite nice. Here follows my quartering of the recipe.

Fakie Boursin Cheese:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/8 tsp. oregano
1/16 tsp. (pinch) each of: basil, dill, marjoram, thyme, pepper

Blend together the cream cheese and butter either using a mixer or by hand. Stir in spices until well-mixed. Store in the fridge. Makes about 1 cup.

The Big Three:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Indeed, after I nearly fried my brain quartering it. That is way too much math for a mama with a 7 week old (new pictures coming soon, I promise!).
Did it taste good? Yes! I was a bit skeptical, but it turned out to be just about right. The texture is a little different - it's creamier - but the taste is really nice. You just need to make sure you let it soften a little before eating it.
Would you make it again? Probably not all that often because cream cheese costs a small fortune here (yes, my American friends...you complain about your grocery prices, but until you've paid $4 for a bar of cream cheese or $8 for a box of cereal, you just keep silent), as does butter (anywhere from $4-6/lb). And we've always considered it more of a treat anyway. So far we've just eaten it with crackers and pretzels but we're thinking it would be nice in a butterflied chicken breast wrapped in bacon. Mmm....

Whip it Up, Week Five

2009-07-31T19:45:00.003-05:00

Bulk foods are a beautiful thing, my friends, and Canada has this wonderful little store called The Bulk Barn. It has everything from ground chipotle pepper to gummy bears, cherry pie filling (yes, in a huge vat) to organic coconut flour. Which brings me to the second new recipe I tried this past week: Cinnamon Sugar Cookies. If my understanding is correct, they're gluten-free; maybe somebody out there who's more familiar with these ingredients can confirm that for me.

When we were last at The Bulk Barn, I was hunting for soy flour and came across the coconut flour and handily enough, there was a recipe card attached to the bin. Here's the recipe!

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
4 eggs
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. coconut flour
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Combine eggs, sugar (reserve 1 tbsp.), vanilla and butter. Mix well. Stir in coconut flour. Let mixture rest for five minutes (try 10) to allow it to thicken (really, it looks like pancake batter before it thickens). Combine cinnamon with 1 Tbsp sugar in a separate bowl. Form dough into 1-1/2" balls and roll in cinnamon mixture, coating thoroughly. Place on cookie sheet 1" apart. Flatten ball to a diameter of 2" (I used the bottom of a juice glass). Bake at 375F for 15 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

The Big Three:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Yes but with some revisions. I ended up adding at least an extra 1/2 cup of coconut flour because it just wasn't getting thick. I also had to let it sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes before it was solid enough to form into a ball without making a complete mess, and I only baked them for about 10 minutes.
Was it tasty? My four guinea pigs (LJ and his parents and the Little Goat) all agreed they were great (particularly noted for flavour and texture). On the other hand, the LG isn't exactly picky when it comes to cookies. She just loves that she's actually getting a cookie! I thought the taste was good but could have been more coconutty; maybe using some extract would help. They also didn't hold up well with time. Eaten fresh they were fine, but a day or two later I felt they were overly crumbly.
Would you make it again? I'm undecided on this one. I thought these were just okay. If I knew we were having company where gluten was an issue, these would definitely be quick and easy to make and I wouldn't be at all ashamed to serve them. I don't know if I'd make them again just for us to eat though.

I did do a little extra research and found lots of other recipes using coconut flour so I might buy a little more and try something else - maybe these coconut brownies.

Whip it Up, Week Four

2009-07-31T12:39:00.005-05:00

My inlaws left this morning so now I'm playing catch-up posting recipes for you.

Pie is not new to me and I love making it but I've never actually attempted a Strawberry-Rhubarb pie (sorry, no pictures - both pies are long gone!).

The pie crust recipe I used is my Mom's and is as follows:

1 lb. lard (yes, people, lard. I'm a recent convert - thanks, Mom! - and it really does make a difference. So just use it, okay? Okay.)
6 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
water

Using either two forks, a pastry blender, or a mixer (like a Kitchen Aid), mix the lard, flour and salt until it resembles pea-sized bits. Crack the egg in a coffee mug (roughly 6-8 oz.), beat it lightly with a fork, stir in the vinegar and fill the cup the rest of the way with cold water. Pour that in the lard/flour mixture and continue mixing until you get a soft-ish dough and I'm sure you can figure out the rest from there. The yield for this recipe is roughly two 9-inch pies (bottom and top crust).

Now for the filling. Go to the store and buy a small box of Kraft Minute Tapioca. Use the recipe on the back of the box for Strawberry-Rhubarb pie - or this one from the Kraft website. You'll only need pie crust for one pie unless you double the filling recipe to use up all the crust and either bake two pies right away, or assemble them both, bake one and freeze the other (unbaked) for another time....like two days later when the first one is gone.

The Big Three:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Reasonably. Pie takes time and I never really know how long to bake it and this one wasn't any different. Thankfully, my mom was here when we made the first one. She didn't scold me too terribly when it ran over in the oven and the smell of burnt filling lingered in the house. She did determine that it needed an extra 20 minutes beyond what the box said. Then it was just a matter of letting it stand long enough so it would thicken up when it was cut. I'll say it might've taken about a half hour to 'set up'.
Did it taste good? Of course! It's pie! It was great!
Would you make it again? I'm not sure about strawberry-rhubarb exactly. It was good, but not my favourite flavour. I prefer just plain old rhubarb but LJ, the husband, loves strawberry-rhubarb, so I might make it again sometime - just because I'm that awesome a wife!

Whip it Up, Week Three

2009-07-17T19:49:00.003-05:00

I'm not even going to wait to post pictures because my in-laws are coming tonight and if I don't post this now, it might not happen until after the deadline.

This week, we attempted this delectable dessert and when Joy said, "This changes everything," she wasn't kidding! This Dark Chocolate Sorbet is amazing and if you have an ice cream maker or access to one, you better try it, quick! The best part? It tastes creamy and looks creamy, but it's completely dairy-free!

The Big Three:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Yup, it only took us maybe 20 minutes from the time we started chopping chocolate (we used dark Callebaut - 51% cocoa) until the time we put the mix in the fridge to chill overnight before churning. Churning took 25 minutes and after resting in the freezer all afternoon, it's perfectly ready to eat! Yay!*
Was it tasty? It's dark. It's chocolate. What's not to love?
Would we make it again? We better, because this batch won't last long...

*As a note, we used 1/2 'regular' cocoa and 1/2 Hershey's Special Dark.

Finally!

2009-07-17T19:47:00.002-05:00

It only took:
2 years
1 month
23 hours
and 50 minutes:

"Mom!"

*grin*

Whip it Up, Week Two

2009-07-08T08:48:00.005-05:00

I'm not a huge fan of cooking. Baking, I love. LOVE. There's a comfortable rhythm to the science of combining flour, sugar and butter in just the right way. There's less of an urgency to baking and conveniently, the heat is restricted to the confines of the oven as opposed to radiating throughout the kitchen via an element on the stove.

That said, I'm also a fan of eating tasty meals that require no cooking OR baking. Give me a sandwich or hummus and veggies or a big dinner salad and I'm there, particularly on a hot summer evening.

This weeks recipe is that - a salad and dressing. Officially, my Whip it Up Week Two submission is this balsamic vinaigrette dressing, but I'm also going to tell you how we used it just in case you need a little extra inspiration. Important Note: We used regular balsamic vinegar instead of white because we haven't bought a new bottle since we moved.

First, we tore up a whole head of romaine lettuce. If you have some baby spinach to add, that would be lovely too. Then I botched a half-cup batch of honey-roasted pecans and they mostly stuck together in clumps. They still tasted just fine though and had just enough stick and crunch to work in the salad. We also threw in about a half-cup of dried cranberries and oh, let's say, six ounces of crumbled feta cheese. Toss all that with a half recipe of the balsamic vinaigrette dressing and you have yourself quite a lovely meal for a summertime weeknight.

The Big Three:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Yup!
Was the recipe tasty? Yes. I wouldn't change a thing. Uh, other than the substitution we made in the first place.
Would you make it again? Yes. It was easy enough and I'd sooner have a homemade dressing than storebought any day: It's fresh, I know exactly what's in it, and there's not usually enough of it to get sick of before it runs out!

As usual, click on the W.I.U. 2009 button over on the right for weekly wrap-ups and more recipes.

It's Back!

2009-07-02T17:11:00.003-05:00

I haven't even posted to let you know that I signed up to do Whip it Up again this summer! Because yes, it's not like there isn't enough to do already; a newborn is sitting beside me (sleeping, thankfully) and a newly minted two-year-old is flipping over chairs across the room as I type this.

Here's a refresher on the rules of the challenge: Try one new recipe per week for eight weeks. Post about the recipe (including a pic if you have one) and answer the three questions as seen below.

Incidentally, since the challenge started last Sunday, we've already tried three new recipes. Okay, well, one was on Saturday night.

My official entry for this week is this Hot Fudge Sauce.
Was it easy to follow? Incredibly.
Was it tasty? Quite, though I added a good heaping tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa.
Would I make it again? I have another recipe I usually use for a mocha fudge sauce and it's delectable. It takes quite a bit longer to make though. With this recipe, I put everything in a two cup glass measuring cup and microwaved it for two minutes and voila! Hot fudge sauce! The mocha fudge sauce is still my favourite, but this is great to fancify a last-minute dessert or when you really need to satisfy a craving, like, NOW.

We also made this Greek dressing (scaled down to six servings) and aside from being easy, it was delicious on our - wait for it - GREEK salad! *gasp*

For more stupendous recipes, click on the logo over there on the right. Weekly wrap-ups, listing new recipes from each participant, are posted on Sundays.

In Lieu of a Nap

2009-06-29T09:32:00.003-05:00

I guess I could tell you the whole birth story in great detail, but since it wasn't really that exciting, I'm going to see if I can give you the condensed-ish version.

Contractions started at around 4am on Tuesday morning. The kind of contractions that made me tell LJ when he woke up at 6:30 that he should consider staying home from work. He was happy to oblige.

At around 9am, we called our midwife, Joelle, just to let her know what was happening. She came over to check me and of course, I was really no further than I was at my previous appointment. The contractions were all over the place as far as timing was concerned so she said she'd call in a couple hours. Two hours later, nothing had really changed and we were just going about our day as usual (eat, nap, laundry, walk) so she said she'd check in before she left work at 4:30.

Enter the Wii Fit. A friend of mine had told me she was doing the hula-hooping the night before she went into labour, so I thought I'd give it a try. She and I are both now convinced that it worked for me too! I unlocked some sort of super hula-hooping and set two new records, plus set new records for step aerobics and unlocked a new level of that too - and I could feel it working.

Joelle came over after work and checked me again and I was only one centimeter further along so she said she'd check again in the morning. Well, that's not quite how it happened, is it? We called her back just before 7 to let her know we were going to head to the hospital. Of course, this was also shortly after we had touched base with Erin K. & Co. who were on their way over to a friend's house for supper, but Erin met us in the parking lot at the hospital and whisked away the Little Goat for a way funner evening than I had, that's for sure.

LJ and I walked very slowly into the ER and can I just say, pre-registration really is the way to go! The triage nurse recognized that I was in labour right away, asked my name and about two minutes later, I had a wheelchair and my paperwork to bring upstairs. When we got upstairs, they asked my name and said, "Oh! We have a room right here for you - #35." (I'm guessing Joelle called the hospital on her way there.)

So from there, it's not ALL blurry.....I laboured in the shower on the birthing ball for a while which was nice but funny because the ball kept rolling over the drain and the shower was filling up with water pretty quickly. Then I tried a few positions on the bed and/or floor, none of which felt really great because, uh, hello! I was in labour....not much feels 'great.'

There was a big kerfuffle with getting something for the pain because they couldn't find a stinking scale which they needed to determine what dose they could give me of whatever it was. Then I only got one tiny dose because it was too close to delivery and the meds can make the baby sluggish. (I suppose I should've learned from last time that the meds wouldn't do anything anyway. Any. Thing.)

Sometime or other, my water broke and in about 25 minutes, I went from 5cm to ready to push. Gack! My back has never felt that much pain! It was way worse than when the LG was born! So I pushed for not quite 45 minutes and then Sibling XX was born!

I ended up delivering in a very awkward position sort of side-lying, but she came out and that was what I wanted most - from about oh, May 1st onward.

LJ did great as my "Support Person." Joelle and Marla (our midwives) were great too. I only had a tiny first degree tear (but then, is ANY tear NOT painful?). I learned that laughing gas does not make me laugh, but it sure does make me sleepy. I also learned that almost falling asleep and then 'waking up' to push is no fun.

Total labour and delivery time was somewhere between 4 1/2 and 5 hours. L&D with the LG was 4 1/2 hours. So this wasn't shorter, it was more painful, they tried to hand me a slimy baby (thanks to LJ for jumping on that one), the LG did great at Erin's and we're all still alive. Score!

Our pastor and his wife (from Maine) have four kids and this running joke/saying: "Four and No More."

I think ours might be "Two and We're Through." At least that's what I'm thinking right now.....don't hold us to that though, okay?

Birth-Day(s), For Sure and For Sure.

2009-06-19T08:32:00.002-05:00

Well. She's here. I owe you a birth story, but that will have to wait at least until next week. The Little.....we haven't got a bloggy nickname for her yet....is FINALLY napping in her bassinet and my midwife is due here any minute for my three-day postpartum checkup.

I'd love to tell you the name we finally (!) decided on (about an hour after she was born, though at that point it was at least down to two finalists), but you know, privacy and all. If you can hunt us down on the ol' FB, you can see more pictures there. Her first name we chose because we both really like it; now we're trying to teach the LG how to say it. Like the LG, the Newbie has two middle names; the first one is a variation on the name of a very dear friend and 'Mom' of ours from Washington, the second is a shortened form of the feminine version of a biblical masculine name that means "God is my strength."

The second middle name seems particularly fitting after the roller coaster ride we've been on since the beginning of December and we are still and will continue to be so grateful for God's grace in bringing us back to Manitoba and to a place that we are loving. We're excited to put down roots here and raise these girls around so many of our friends and their kids and cousins the same age.

Anyway, we are home and still exhausted. My parents are coming on Sunday to visit and help out for several days. In the meantime, we're trying to keep both these girls happy, trying to heal up (easier said than done, of course) and trying to get any amount of sleep we can (including me falling asleep at the supper table last night).

Without further adieu, here are her stats:
A. C. B. J.
June 16
11:22pm
7 lbs., 14 oz.
20 1/2 inches

Hair: copious
Eyes: leaning toward blue already (yippee!)
Lungs: fully functional

Birth-Day(s), For Sure and Maybe.

2009-06-16T10:41:00.005-05:00

If I didn't procrastinate so much, I would've written this lovely sentimental post about how much we love our LG and how much we're enjoying her at this age. She's a little smarty-pants and her vocabulary has really taken off since we moved here. Clearly, this means the Canadian air is doing something for her and she fancies Manitoba enough to talk about it. Brilliant!

But here we are and it's her second birthday today and I'm doing nothing but having contractions and LJ stayed home from work today and the midwife has already been here once this morning and should be calling back in less than an hour.....so either the LG will end up thinking this is the best or the worst birthday present EVER. That is, if I can get past three centimeters sometime today. Argh!

Anyway, here are some pictures from her birthday party on Saturday and from after church on Sunday, modeling the cute, cute, CUTE outfit my Mom made for her. Seriously, try not to drool over her cuteness, okay?

When we bought the duck, she was kissing it in the shopping cart. Here,
her poor cousin can't figure out why she's screaming - HE loves the duck!

And of course, since she doesn't like the duck squirting water and doesn't want to
swim in her new turtle pool, why should she enjoy wearing her swimsuit either?

My attempt at a 'clock' cake. She knew what it was and it was darn tasty!

Eating the cake.

Checking out her new watch - a present from Sibling XX.

Excited about her doll house toy from Dad & Mama.
(We're so glad she got this right before the baby gets here because she loves it!)*

In her new outfit that Grama made. There are matching bloomers and a little knit jacket
with blue flowers on it too. How ridiculously cute is she?!

*And yes, that would be my near-to-bursting belly in the background.
That's the best shot you're gonna get so enjoy it.

On Notice

2009-06-15T09:39:00.002-05:00

So I'm putting you all on notice this morning because I'm having irregular contractions or something. I am SO not good at timing these things and this is the first step in the online instructions I found:

What you will need to time contractions:

A watch or clock with a second hand
A pregnant woman having contractions

Yes, helpful, indeed. I can still talk through them. I'm just sitting here emailing and facebook-ing.....This is annoying, no? The waiting?

It's June. And Yes, it Has Been for a Couple Weeks Now.

2009-06-12T12:45:00.004-05:00

So I'm not ignoring you guys. In fact, I miss you all quite a bit. I'm still trying to catch up on blogs from the beginning of May (wow, have I missed A LOT!).

No baby to report yet, just ridiculous amounts of itchiness that is like a form of madness. I had an oatmeal bath last night and was still scratching the entire time I was in there. Today I'm trying to ignore it (not working) and have a series of anti-itch lotions lined up on the bathroom counter.

I'm thinking today would be a great day for a baby. It's Friday and as you know, "Friday's child is loving and giving...." PLUS it's the 12th and that's a nice even-numbered day. I'm not superstitious about numbers, I just have always had some sort of inexplicable beef with odd numbers. Not only that, but my parents will be here by suppertime (the Little Goat's birthday isn't until Tuesday, but we're celebrating tomorrow) so you see? Perfect birth-day!

Anyway, there isn't much else to tell you right now. We went to the fair in my hometown last weekend and it was COLD. The LG enjoyed the (thankfully, indoor!) petting zoo though and while we would've thought the little ducks would be the highlight of her day. However, her favourite animal turned out to be, of all things, the TURKEY! Such a hideous looking thing. Really, who looked at that and decided "Hey look! Dinner!"? <- That is one awful mess of punctuation, isn't it?

Anyway, here's a picture from the Friday evening we arrived there and tried to take the LG on the play structure in the park behind my parents' house. She was NOT impressed with the sand. *sigh*

Much like her mother, she is not amused by the idea of spreading dandelion seeds all over the place.

I Guess They're Not All Bad

2009-05-28T12:30:00.001-05:00

When I turned 18, a very well-meaning acquaintance planned a surprise party for me. Firstly, I don't like surprises at the best of times. Secondly, my brother and his girlfriend-at-the-time had promised to take me out for fancy supper the same night and my Mom had just made me a new skirt and I was excited. Well we were getting ready to walk out the door and two of my school friends showed up. I tried to explain that I couldn't leave with them because I had supper plans. Alas, that was when the Restaurant Ruse fell apart. I changed my skirt and in their cruelty, my friends blindfolded me for the ride to the park where the party was happening.

The good news about the party was that I got a lot of nice presents and after the barbecue part was over, I went with a few of my closest school friends over to one of their houses to watch videos and hang out. The bad news is that said well-meaning acquaintance jumped on planning the party before my best friend got a chance to and ended up inviting a rather large number of people that I wasn't even really friends with, including some I hardly talked to at all. Also, a couple of friends had traveled from out of town to be there and I hardly got a chance to talk to them. Eventually, they felt so ignored by the party-planner and a few other people who were supposed to be their friends that they left...and I wished I could've gone with them.

Well, this time, my sneaky Mom fabricated a pretty fool-proof plan right under my nose! The weekend after we got here, we went out to my parents' place for five days (long weekend in Canada plus LJ's certification exam). My best friend, Chandra, and I had planned to go out for a coffee date on Saturday morning (to Starbucks! Sans toddler!). I had seen Mom peeling potatoes before I left but just assumed she was planning either to have company or that the five of us were going to eat some mass quantity of potato salad for lunch on Sunday. Apparently, as soon as I left, Mom put LJ to work peeling, slicing, and chopping up stuff for salads for Sunday evening.

On Sunday afternoon, Chandra invited me over basically to do nothing which sounded just fine with me. I got going late because I didn't hear my alarm go off after naptime and most of the time I was over at her place I was in a groggy nap-induced stupor. We DID go out for ice cream though and one very tasty, albeit regrettably large, milkshake.

I didn't end up putting two-and-two together very well until we both left Chandra's place (she was “supposedly” going over to her parents' for supper). Her parents live in the same end of town as mine but we both took a different way to get there. I was baffled when I saw her take a route that really didn't go anywhere near the right street and thought she must've been taking some weird scenic route. Then I got to my parents' street and there were cars everywhere. So on top of being late for supper, I had to park in the driveway. Argh! As I was getting out of the car, Chandra walks up the driveway asking for the jacket she forgot in the car the day before. The following conversation ensued:

B: Uh, I hung your jacket up in your front closet. You watched me hang it there and you even commented....
C: Oh, yeah, uh, duh. I just spazzed for a minute there. Oh hey, let's go in your front door.
B: (baffled because wasn't she supposed to be going somewhere for supper?) Uh, we never use our front door.
C: So? It's been ages since I've gone in that way.
B: Okay......so, why is your parent's car parked in front of my house?
C: What? Is that my parent's car? (squinting) I can't read the license plate. (As if you have it memorized, Chandra Anne.)
B: Hey, wait a minute....

And then it all started to make sense and sure enough, I walked in and heard that dread word: “SURPRISE!”

This time, though....good surprise! A few of my parent's friends were there (people that I know too) and my friend Kristin was out from Airport City (the Manitoba-version). Well all us 'girls' sat at the same table and ate all my Mom's tasty food (even though I was still horridly full from the milkshake) and I haven't laughed that much since Chandra's party in February. When she and Kristin get together, hilarity ensues.

So, it was a few days late but was just the right mix of people and food – thanks for the party, Mom! You redeemed the whole 'surprise party' ordeal for me.

Finally!

2009-05-19T08:46:00.003-05:00

We made it here in one piece! The last few days of the trip were infinitely better than the first few - only because we did more fun stuff and slightly less driving each day. We made it across the border, somewhat surprisingly because we accidentally chose the Port of Entry* with the two crankiest customs officers I've met in recent years. They were brutal! It didn't help that it was right over the supper hour and the Little Goat was NOT happy to be waiting on food and then I had to change her on the ground outside because they didn't have a public bathroom....anyway, we're here now and phew!

We got to our new house and my parents and uncle were already there and Erin K. & Co. arrived just a few minutes after we did. Mom brought food so we ate and then started unloading. Two of my old friends from college who live in the same town also came over to help and the truck was unloaded before dark!

The house itself is huge and we are going to be spoiled! Our couches are set up in the living room along with two big end tables that are old but were already there and go rather well with our couches, and we still have this huge area of carpeted (!) empty space! Yes, that's right. Empty. Space. The bedrooms are big too and the girls' room is just the perfect size for sharing. Even the shade of pink doesn't look too bad with all the white furniture.

Our bathroom and backyard are another matter entirely. I've always wanted a purple bathroom for whatever reason and I lucked out in that the toilet, sink, and bathtub are all - PURPLE! Not even a bad shade of purple (even LJ likes them). The thing is, there's carpet in the bathroom. Like nasty green indoor/outdoor carpet. It's at the top of our list of requests to make of the landlord because carpet in a bathroom? Yikes!

The backyard is merely the product of Renter's Neglect. Most of it hasn't been taken care of in well over a year and because it's so big it now looks like a wilderness preserve. The creek which I was imagining to be so picturesque isn't so much picturesque as deadly-looking (there's at least a 6-8 foot DROP down to the bank), but then we found out it's called Dead Horse Creek so I suppose the name makes the view rather fitting. LJ has decided to design some sort of old-fashioned type sign with a horse skeleton on it just to be funny. There IS a garden though and he can hardly wait to plant it. Our landlady (who is great, by the way!) had somebody come in last week to give an estimate so the yard could at least get a good once-over and then we can take it from there. Otherwise, just looking after that could be a year-long project.

We stayed at our new place from Monday until Thursday and came out here to my parents' place on Thursday afternoon. LJ is writing his certification exam as I'm typing this and lots of people are thinking of him and praying all goes well (this really is the last hurdle that we can think of since he needs the certification to work). I'm confident he'll do great though. He's pretty smart, you know.

Our first week back has been an interesting one when it comes to re-orienting myself to living in Canada. Things really are different here and food prices and car insurance prices and truly crappy cell-phone service plans have been a little shocking. On that note, I've decided not to rename the blog just yet because I still do feel like a bit of a stranger here.

Oh, a couple of fun bits of trivia for you:
1) Erin K. & Co. only live about a 10 minute walk from us (though it's been way too cold and I'm too tired to walk anywhere lately) and we are so excited to actually have friends in the same town.
2) Our next -door neighbours to the north of us are an older couple (who we've been assured will "keep a good eye on us" [read: spy]) who used to be good friends with my late grandparents.
3) We weren't even there for 72 hours and a lady from down the street stopped by to bring us (still warm from the oven!) raisin bran muffins (the LG devoured at least four of them) and a card to welcome us to town and told LJ "see you at the clinic!" He's not sure if she works there or if word just travels that fast. I'm pretty sure it just travels that fast.
4) And finally, when we leave my parents' house tomorrow, we're NOT getting on a plane!

*If you're getting to this post via a Google search for Canada Work Permit, let me just tell you that the government website is really incomplete. We learned a lot of things that nobody ever told us and we sure hadn't read anywhere. Email me if you have questions!

yikes!

2009-05-10T10:41:00.002-05:00

It seems like forever since I've blogged and I'm just popping in to let you know that I won't be around for real for at least another week yet since we don't know when we'll have internet hooked up at our new place.

The trip so far has been exhausting and my ankles and feet end every day in swollen despair. We had a great stopover visiting friends in Iowa though and we've taken two days in Minneapolis to relax a bit. We spent WAY too much time at Ikea yesterday and spent more than we maybe should have but it was fun. Then we came back to the hotel for a breather before heading over to the Mall of America which was pretty much a bust for us because it's impossible to orient yourself fast enough to see everything you want to see. The only store we went into was the mall gift shop to pick up a postcard. Otherwise, we got food and poked around Legoland which was quite a disappointment. Plus, the LG was horridly crabby.

Anyway, LJ is reminding me that we have to finish getting ready to go and check-out is in fifteen minutes. Happy Mother's Day, Moms and I'll see you in a week or two (I haven't checked Google Reader lately and I'm afraid...very afraid....)!

Quick Update

2009-05-01T08:24:00.002-05:00

Hey, it turns out we don't have to drive down to Airport City for the Uhaul afterall! Hooray! The lady LJ talked to yesterday did some finagling and fixed it all up so it'll be in town tomorrow morning at 8!

Now we just need good truck-packing weather for tomorrow and good driving weather for the next week!

Monkey Wrenches and Ice Cream

2009-04-30T09:20:00.004-05:00

What's new around here:

1) The house appraisal was yesterday. We still haven't heard anything about that. Pray that it will have gone well. As I mentioned last time, that's really that last thing standing between us and the house sale closing.

2) We found out last night that since we're moving to Canada, the day we get there is the day our home/auto insurance from here expires. Apparently, this is unusual and we have a crappy insurance company. Boo!

3) We found out just this afternoon that the closest Uhaul truck we need is THREE HOURS away so the last day of packing we had planned (tomorrow) is now all going to have to happen tonight so we can drive all the way down to Airport City and back to pick up this stupid truck. The silver lining - if this level of inconvenience can really be called that; they knew more than a week ago that we needed this particular truck and where we're located - is that they're not going to charge us any extra. So we'll get a free day, free mileage and they'll give us some sort of credit for gas. But still - boo! I am NOT up for driving six hours tomorrow and we had several other last-minute errands to run besides that. I guess the other silverish living is that we can have people over to pack the truck as early as we want on Saturday morning. And, uh, as early as they're willing to come over, right?

4) Packing is really coming along (you'd be proud, Shalee!). Upstairs we just have the clothes we're wearing on the trip to pack and a few toiletries and the laundry detergent. Everything else is in boxes and ready for the truck. Down here, we just have the last-minute essentials (like my third baby - my computer) and things in the kitchen to pack which we are planning to take care of tonight. Between fancy pizza we're getting for supper tonight and finger-type foods, we've got enough to tide us over between now and leaving.

5) Last Saturday, we ran errands and then met up with our pastor and his wife for ice cream. All four of their kids were away for the week last week so we were celebrating the last minutes of their 'honeymoon' and just spending time with friends. The LG had her very first ice cream cone. Yup, her first. She'd never had ice cream before (and great, now we can never go for ice cream in peace anymore either) and it was a hit! We weren't sure how it was going to go over since she doesn't have much milk otherwise (the results are, uh, not too pretty), but everything was fine so maybe we can get her back on milk again soon. (Which would be great because buying soy milk is fine when it's only me using it because I don't use much, but when she's having it all the time too, it can get pricey.) Anyway, here are some pictures from that momentous occasion. Oh! And she actually SAT on GRASS. She won't even walk on our lawn; she just doesn't like grass, but she sat on it, ran around on it, and yes, even wore her little sunglasses. (Don't worry, she only wore them for two days; she broke them on Sunday afternoon.) Oh yes, and after she was finished her ice cream, but before we could wipe off her bib and her face, the wind blew the bib up over her head and she got sprayed all down the back with ice cream. Oops.

2009 (so far) in Pictures

2009-04-23T10:18:00.004-05:00

Being goofy in the hospital back in February.

Being goofy even while sleeping.
(Yes, I will make sure this makes it into any wedding photo-montage - har!)

Helping Dad lick the beaters.

Easter basket!

2009-04-23T08:50:00.002-05:00

For your weekly update this week I think I might actually have found the Easter pictures of the LG that I couldn't find last week.

**********************
The house inspection happened this past Tuesday and went quite well except for one thing that we already knew about from our own home inspection that doesn't really have to be fixed right this instant and well, we're not fixing it anyway. They'll get not a penny more out of us! The next step is the appraisal which will happen sometime in the next week. Pray that it will go well because that's really the last hurdle before the house closes on the 11th.

We've managed to sell both an old (though it was practically new in the box) air conditioner we had around but never used here and the lawn mower that we've been using that was in the shed when we got here, and we're really close to selling our entertainment unit which, while we really like it, is just too big and heavy to move one more time. Yesterday, LJ had a dentist appointment and when he came out of the office, there was a couple waiting by the car who offered him about 3/4 of our asking price. The only problem was how he would get home so they exchanged numbers. Sadly, they called back later that night and said they wouldn't be able to buy it after all. We're still hopeful though, that God will take it off our hands in the next week.

We're still planning on leaving on May 3rd. The packing (thanks for your encouragement, Shalee!) is going quite well and we should be finished packing up boxes and collecting them all in one room by the end of this weekend. Then we'll just have last-minute things and furniture to think about. It feels good to be this ready to go.

LJ has been fabulous about all this packing too. My ligament pain was replaced, overnight, by some horrid sciatic nerve and joint pain on my right side which has left me decidedly incapacitated. I have no choice but to waddle just to lessen the pain and moving around is generally excruciating. We were laughing last night about just how I plan to get into the U-Haul when we're on the road. LJ suggested rigging up some sort of hoist. Um, no thanks, Dear. I'll just grimace and bear it.

Oh, he did have one moment of cruelty this week though: when I got home on Tuesday after the inspection, there were four packages waiting for us. Two mundane packages with diapers for Sibling XX and some gifts I ordered for each of our midwives, and two mystery packages. As background, several years ago, a package arrived when I was at work one afternoon (our UPS guy delivered to my job too so he often left packages there for us). It was addressed to LJ but I didn't know of anything 'private' that he had ordered so I opened it right up. It was the latest edition of Pride & Prejudice (BBC) on DVD. Oops! It wasn't for any specific occasion so how was I to know? I shoved it back in the box and taped it back up. I did tell him later that I had actually opened it, after which I got quite the lecture.

So when the packages were sitting there on Tuesday begging me to open them, I resisted. Good thing because they are, evidently, for my birthday (only 11 more days, Brenda - yikes!). There are TWO mystery packages floating around the house for ELEVEN more days! The suspense is NOT amusing.

************
Next post, pictures.

Absenteeism

2009-04-17T09:02:00.003-05:00

I've been absent this week, obviously.
We've been busy, mostly with procrastinating, but also with some appointments and packing and throwing away junk and trying to figure out what to pack now and what to leave out.

We leave here two weeks from tomorrow and every time I think about that I get a combination of butterflies and giddiness whirling in my stomach, in addition to the human being whirling in my belly.

Potty training has been irritating this week. It's one accident after another and the debate - which we thought we had solved - still rages over what to do in the process of moving.

Our Easter was fun. We had a breakfast at church, then home for a quick nap and then dinner with friends. The LG did great at hunting Easter eggs. After she had all her eggs in the basket, she sat down and methodically opened each one (after shaking it) and ate all her M&Ms.

We got three or four inches of snow between Sunday and Monday which was awful because, you know, it's SPRING and all, but by Tuesday evening, almost all of it was gone and today there are only remnants in a few places. LJ has taken the LG outside a few times to ride her tricycle which she LOVES even though she hasn't figured out how to actually peddle the thing yet. Coming back inside always involves a struggle because she's not ready to come in. Hopefully when we move the weather in Manitoba will be nice enough that they can get out and ride a little more often.

Here's a picture from Easter Sunday - pardon the shoes, we couldn't find any dress shoes we actually liked. Well, sorry. I can't find the pictures. It'll have to wait until later but trust me, she looked cute!

Our Weekend, by the Way, Was Great!

2009-04-07T11:53:00.004-05:00

LJ called the immigration people at the Port-of-Entry and the lady he talked to said there was something medical showing up in the system but then her computer froze. So we spent Friday evening getting together all the documents we needed to file LJ's Canadian Work Permit application. Letters, passports, pictures, emails, and receipts. Saturday morning, he called the POE again and talked to the Immigration guy and the medical exam information had all gone through and was positive so were set to go.

The POE we had to go to is only about an hour away so we got there at around 1:30 and were there for about two hours. As it turns out, they only needed three things: LJ's passport, his letter of offer of employment, and the Labour Market Opinion letter. We had the first two but only the system number for the LMO so LJ called the guy that's in charge of hiring him and he emailed it to the immigration officer and about a half hour and $150 later, we were set to go! He didn't even look at the stupid passport pictures OR the receipt that my Dad took great pains to scan and email first thing on Saturday morning (thanks anyway, Dad!).*

So, it's Officially Official. We are MOVING! It's REAL. The plan is to leave here on May 2nd and be in MB hopefully by the 12th. If you're calculating, that means we have three Saturdays to pack before we spend the fourth Saturday packing the U-Haul. This Saturday we're having Chris & Holly over for one last Easter Hurrah (I just filled some plastic eggs about 10 minutes ago). That leaves us with two Saturdays and then the evenings in between. Yikes!

If you know us at all, you know that LJ and I are both very gifted procrastinators. Very. Gifted. We can come up with numerous excuses - both legitimate and ridiculous. But, I just finished packing up the first box of kitchen stuff. Conveniently, most of our breakables are still packed from our last move since my china cabinet was destroyed when it flew off the back of a truck just before we moved (*ahem, LJ* and *sigh*) and since our current kitchen is so small, I keep a lot of my lesser-used kitchen articles in big plastic storage bins in a back room. That's at least eight boxes already waiting for a moving truck. Last night, too, we went through the freezer and threw away old freezer-burned food that we didn't need (like popsicles from two summers ago!) and threw away a few things from the pantry that were seriously outdated.

That said, I think I'm going to go work on packing up some of the LG's toys in her playroom which has been off-limits for several weeks already because it's been cold out and we don't keep the heat on back there. We drastically streamlined her toys last week when we were cleaning for the house showing and she hasn't seemed to miss them yet so I can pack those all up too. Not to worry! She's not completely devoid of toys! We've been building forts to read and play in in the living room, looking at catalogues before we rip them up for packing material, and she's been spending evenings playing with the big box of dominoes with LJ or colouring or SAYING WORDS - at least as of last night.

*For anyone that found this via googling Canadian Work Permit Application - let us encourage you to apply at a POE. LJ got his medical done first and they submitted the paperwork for that. Less than three weeks later that info had all gone through Ottawa and was in the computer. Applying at a POE was so much easier than having to send all the paperwork in the mail and risk getting it sent back because the information wasn't complete. You should make sure to bring all documentation listed on the checklist though, just in case the Immigration officer you see decides s/he wants more info than the guy that we saw.

Whoa!

2009-04-07T09:10:00.002-05:00

Get ready for it! We have WORDS!

REAL, RECOGNIZABLE WORDS!

"cat"

"cupcake"

"bob"

"duck"

FINALLY!

Now we just need to hear 'potty' and 'pee'.

It's Tuesday.

2009-03-31T20:33:00.003-05:00

Despite having just had my glucose-tolerance test yesterday (and having a bad feeling about it, I might add), I am writing this while blissfully inhaling the smell of fresh oatmeal raisin cookies. I had me a hankerin' and wow are they good! It smells like Christmas in here.

Incidentally, it also looks a lot like Christmas outside. This past weekend the weather was gorgeous! On Saturday, LJ stayed home with the LG and I got to go do the grocery shopping all by myself! (With no child! And no diaper bag!) It would've been the perfect day for a road trip except that we're not quite ready to be on the road yet. On Sunday, I wore summer dress shoes and no socks - it was that nice out.

Halfway through church though, I looked out the window and it was snowing. These were snowflakes so big you could see them through the stained glass windows too. Basically, when all was said and done (sometime yesterday) we ended up with about six inches of fresh wet snow.

Thankfully, it was above zero (or above 32 for my American friends) today so everything was already starting to melt. It wasn't particularly sunny outside, but just the water pooling at the end of the driveway and dripping off the roof is enough to make me feel like Spring.

And speaking of water pooling, the LG had her third day in 'big girl' training pants but her first day with NO ACCIDENTS! It was a bit of an annoying day otherwise because she fluctuated between being ridiculously giddy and aggravatingly cranky but making it through clean and dry was worth it.

More Exciting News Will Not Likely Be Posted On this Blog*

2009-03-26T13:37:00.003-05:00

So several weeks back I think I mentioned that we had this unspoken prayer request and I had this big news to share with you that I just couldn't share yet. Then I threw you another bone a couple weeks ago saying I would spill the beans soon. Well this week I've been putting it off pending the notification of some of our close friends and family and then came the potty training so it's been a busy week.

Potty training is exhausting, yes, but not nearly as irksome as trying to figure out IMMIGRATION. Yup, it's true. Seven years ago, I endured most of the brunt of the horrid chaos that is U.S. Immigration, but this time, my friends, the tables are turned! The story goes a little something like this:

In late November/early December, we got an email from my Uncle. The email contained a note and an attachment advertising an opening for a job in LJ's field in my home province (*squee!*). Friends and family who live around there have been keeping their eyes peeled for some time but most of the jobs around there are split up - so you do one job half the time and another job the other half of the time, the second job being one that LJ isn't qualified for. Well anyway, completely on a whim, we prayed about it and the next night fancied up LJ's resume and off went the email. The NEXT DAY, he heard back from the clinic administrator who wanted to be in touch with him as soon as possible.

Not two weeks later, there had been enough communication between the administrator and LJ to solidify their interest in hiring him. However, one very major thing needed to happen first: The clinic had to check with the Canadian government to prove that they couldn't find a 'local' to do the job and that they needed to hire a foreigner. Getting the Labour Market Opinion took only about two weeks and it came back positive.

To make a long story slightly shorter, while we were excited at the prospect of this job, we didn't say anything to very many people because it still seemed like such a long shot. Then the week before Christmas when my Mom was diagnosed with cancer, we started to let our hopes get a little higher. That God would give us this opportunity at just this time seemed almost a little unreal.

We have gone through several immigration hoops already and we have the forms filled out and ready for LJ's work permit application which can't be done until his medical results clear somebody's desk in Ottawa. Once those results clear, we can take the application down to a Port-of-Entry (where you go through a border crossing into Canada) and apply for the permit. Once he has the stamp of approval, we are ready to go (well, technically, the LG and I could go anytime....but we're already Canadian). Hopefully the medical results will clear quickly, because we need to be in my hometown before May 19th since that's the day LJ writes his Canadian Certification Exam so he can legally practice in Canada. Then we'll be settling in to our NEW hometown to commence work and life!

I'm vastly oversimplyfying here because the whole story could take a long time to write but I'll tell you a few really great things about this move:
1) The town is only 2 1/2 hours from where my parents live (and I don't think I have to tell you how excited I am about the prospect of being so close to them and my best friend Chandra after being so far away for seven years)!
2) The town is only about ten minutes away from the illustrious Erin K. & Co. (which means the LG can actually have a little toddler friend at her birthday 'party' this year)!
3) The town just so happens to be chock-full of college friends and more importantly - my relatives! YIPPEE! Actual people our age! Actual friends who are already friends! Actual family nearby!
4) The new job means a pay-raise (despite the currency conversion). It also comes with more responsibility and the possibility of LJ becoming a supervisor of a department as well as the opportunity to train in a completely new field, courtesy of the clinic.
5) The town is like Mennonite-central, people! Perogies, Farmer's Sausage, rollkuchen, watermelon and all the other Menno delights that we've missed for so long, plus the town and the one next door both have a major summer festival, one of which entails a giant barbecue cook-off which the LJ can hardly wait for! (The man loves his barbecue!)
6) This has been an incredible opportunity for God to stretch our faith and cause growth in us (see the next list below) as well as an opportunity to share with our friends how God's grace and sovereignty have been so particularly active in our lives as of late.

Now the downside:
1) The climate is pretty much exactly the same as here so we will, sadly, have to bring our shovels with us.
2) Our house here remains unsold and as you can imagine, paying a mortgage and rent at the same time isn't feasible. We are trusting God with the sale of the house because it belongs to Him and He will sell it in His time. We are also extremely grateful to have a place to stay, if temporarily, with my Uncle R. & Aunt E. (THANK YOU! A thousand times - THANK YOU!) when we get there. Please pray with us for the quick sale of our house. We know the market is poor right now but again, it's not truly our house to sell.
3) We are playing the waiting game with immigration at the moment. We need LJ's medical results to pass quickly so we can be underway and on the road on or around my birthday (4 May). If it comes any later, we may be stuck here until July after Sibling XX gets here.
4) Nearly everything in Canada is more expensive than here (eg. the giant box of honey nut cheerios that costs $4.12 here, costs about $7.69 there), and we are bracing for things like car insurance, rent, gasoline, and just paying to get there, while rejoicing in the prospect of free healthcare (no matter how much most Americans diss it, I would trade long lines for free almost any day, plus the chance to deliver Sibling XX without getting a medical bill back from the hospital), and monthly checks from the government to help with the costs of raising kids...and all the other good things I already listed above.

A friend of ours who is in the same line of work as LJ but in a different Manitoba city, told me that every person in their field in Manitoba would've seen this job ad, yet of all those people (and we don't know how many applied) the clinic chose to pursue LJ! That gives us even more confidence in this being part of God's plan for us even as we are daily praying and trusting for Him to finalize all the details that need to be in place before we move. We are sitting at about 90% sure that this move will happen and praying that if for some reason, God chooses to close the door, He will do so in the most gentle way possible. Please pray with us for grace and guidance as we wait for whatever is next, and know that we are (to the best of our ability) giving God glory for how He has blessed us in this process so far!

NOW, you are in the know! FINALLY!

*Unless of course we ever actually get pregnant with a boy child, in which case, I will NOT be able to contain my excitement for anywhere NEAR this long.....

PT Update

2009-03-26T13:29:00.002-05:00

Well yesterday was a resounding potty training success with only one major and one minor accident and the culmination of a hard day's work with a 'plop' in the toilet! The reward for that? TWO loopy fruits. (One for 1, two for 2, right?)

The Little Goat must have a bladder of steel or something because this morning she didn't go once until right when she was finishing her lunch and she decided that the spot under her little table in the kitchen hadn't been disinfected quite enough times yet; at least she finished up in the bathroom. AND, she was quite upset by her accident which I understand is a good sign.

This has been a rewarding venture although it's made this week feel like the longest week ever and I am exhausted! Seasoned parents will laugh when I say this but I never imagined potty training to be so tiring. Stressful, yes, but not nearly so tiring!

Now we're trying to figure out what comes next and how to get her used to public toilets and what to do during church (so as to avoid a wet pew). Anybody have any suggestions?

Also, come back in a half hour because, that's right, the time is now and you know what's coming....

Success!

2009-03-23T15:51:00.002-05:00

Well, it's almost 5pm and we've had success twice since LJ got home (Hmph! Figures!). The first time she must've sat there for almost 10 minutes but we gave her some books. Little piddles kept coming every couple minutes so we just let her stay. She seemed pretty happy about it. I think she might be figuring out that peeing = loops 'o' fruit. Hmmm...

Now, if we can just get her to tell us when she needs to go....

Oh, and Also

2009-03-23T10:48:00.002-05:00

we started potty training today. Hrrrgh. It is going TERRIBLY, thank you very much.

Does it Get Any More Exciting Than This?

2009-03-23T09:47:00.003-05:00

We make our own yogurt and when that happens, it's usually on Friday nights because then we have it for pancakes or scones or granola on Saturday morning...and because we're just really exciting like that.

I also do this thing called Nielsen Homescan (and yes, we've been a Nielsen TV family three times now - nice!) which means when we buy groceries, I scan the UPC codes and enter prices. I'm helping with national consumer research and mostly I do it because I get points that add up and then I can 'cash them in' for prizes. I have been working towards a jogging stroller for the last 2 1/2 years. Until Friday, when I noticed they changed the catalogue and the jogging stroller that was 77,000 points has been replaced with a fancier model that's 209,000 points. I'm kind of done with doing the Homescan thing because with another baby coming, it seems like just one more thing to take up my time and there's no way I'm going to earn over 100,000 points in 13 weeks (yes, that's 1-3 folks). So, it's time to cash in the points.

ANYWAY, last Friday night (which was decidely less eventful than Erin K.'s) we put the milk in a pot on the stove and turned it on to heat up to make yogurt. In the meantime, I was trying to convince LJ that it was time to close the Mozilla window on some scholarly paper he was reading because it was Friday night and while we may be boring enough to make yogurt on a Friday night, I'm finished with college and there's no way I'm going to spend my Friday night reading scholarly articles. So he closed the window and we started looking through the points catalogue.

So caught up were we that after checking and stirring the milk one or two times, we forgot about it. I walked into the kitchen and it was seconds from boiling over and the temperature was up over 220 (it's only supposed to get to 185). So we now had a half gallon of very scalded milk.

"Wanna make hot chocolate," I asked?.

"Uh, okay."

Except then we had a problem because my recipe for homemade hot chocolate only makes two servings and we obviously had enough hot milk for a LOT more than that. So hilarity ensued as we were standing there for the better part of 20 minutes trying to figure out fractions and measurements and *gasp* be almost scholarly.

Now, we have a 1/2 gallon of 'hot' chocolate in the fridge waiting to be reheated, which I guess is good except that we hardly ever drink hot chocolate at home.

On the bright side, we're reasonably sure what we're going to get with our Homescan points.

And that is all for today.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

2009-03-20T08:47:00.002-05:00

Hooray for the first day of Spring! It's not especially warm here although it's been above zero Celsius on every other day this week, but the sky is a cloudless, Spring blue and the sun is shining!

Mr. J. (hereafter known as LJ....because I feel like it) and I have decided that regardless of the LG's present choice not to speak using actual words (so she'll have to come up with some other sort of sign), Sibling XX is on the way and it's time for potty training. We were already figuring this won't be an easy task but I got an email from my good friend Kara yesterday outlining the basics of the Azrin-Foxx Method (as they used it) and now we're feeling decidedly daunted!

At any rate, I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I think we'll start on Monday morning.

Oh yes, and make sure you stop by next week because that big prayer request I've been talking about for,uh, a while will be big news around here - things are about 90% 'sure' so we're finally ready to spill the beans! Yay!

Happy Weekend!

2009-03-13T09:42:00.002-05:00

So today we're getting back into our normal activities. Yesterday was devoted to laundry and resting a little. Today will be about bills and meal planning and sorting mail and oh, did I mention PRAISING GOD?!

My parents went into Surgery City yesterday for a post-op with Mom's surgeon who said as far as he's concerned, they got everything and there is no more cancer! She's going to have three radiation treatments anyway because it brings the chance of something popping up down to 1% from 20%, but 30 total minutes of discomfort for those odds is pretty doable. Please continue to pray for Mom & Dad as they travel for the treatments. Also pray that the side-effects will be minimal. And hey, while you're at it - praise God for this awesome display of His sovereignty and power.

Testing a Mom's Mettle

2009-03-12T11:30:00.003-05:00

We finally got back last night just before dinner. Three weeks was just about the right amount of time to be Home in Manitoba but the Little Goat and me being sick for a week and a half in the middle of the trip seemed to make it stretch on even longer.

The first few days were fine but the LG must've picked up some sort of virus from the airplane (or maybe we were just never quite over whatever it was we had before we left) and after nearly a week of being sick, ended up in the hospital for two nights on the 27th/28th. My Mom and I took her to a walk-in clinic on that Friday and the doctor couldn't come up with any diagnosis so she referred us to the pediatrician on-call in the ER. It didn't take him very long to determine that she was quite dehydrated and needed an IV.

It took the doctor, a resident, and four nurses to take blood samples and get the IV started. It was awful. In the meantime, my Mom went home and got together some stuff for us and my best friend, Chandra (she told me I should write about her because she wants her 15 minutes of fame and somehow she's crazy enough to think my blog is going to get that for her - hah! Such a supportive friend.....), stopped by and picked up everything to bring it to the hospital.

They finally took us up to the LG's room at almost 9pm. There have been plenty of updates to the hospital recently, but evidently, none in the pediatric ward in the last 25 years. Pepto-bismal-pink walls with really old-school Sesame Street Baby wallpaper border, the oldest bed in the ward (I checked; the nurse the first night could barely get the siderail up!), and an all-metal crib that looked like something you'd find in a Cold War bunker. The nightshift nurses were great for the most part but the day shift nurses? Wow. Cranky to the nth degree...until I told them we were paying for every dollar of our stay and then things did a 180. Hmmm....

The pediatrician was great! I was completely impressed with his bedside manner and interaction with the LG. I also felt like he *gasp* valued my opinion! It turned out though, that while we were on the same page as far as what we were hoping for, he wasn't quite as in a hurry as I was to get the LG discharged. I was really hoping we wouldn't have to stay in a second night ($$) but eventually caved and to bed we went.

All this time, we were concerned but not overly about the hospital bill we knew was coming. (And here's where this post turns from simply a woeful tale into a cautionary tale.) We bought travel insurance which included medical coverage before we left Maine, but alas, I screwed it up. You know how when you're filling out forms online and you miss something on the first page so you go back, fix it, and then continue but for some reason not all the information took? Yeah, well I did that. For whatever reason, I checked and re-checked the information I had entered but never noticed that the trip dates were entered wrong. Nobody from the insurance company caught it either, so I didn't know until I called in to start a medical claim that according to the policy we purchased, we traveled from Maine to Manitoba AND BACK on the same day. (Physically impossible, I know.) So, we are now on the hook for the entire $3500 hospital bill. Oh yay us.

So there you have it. The 10 days after the hospital visit were good. We got to see all my cousins and Erin K. & Co., I got to spend lots of time with Chandra, and lots of evenings playing cards with my Mom, lots of time watching curling with my Dad, Anja brought a lot of joy to Grama & Grampa's house when joy was needed most....and now we are in more debt than we ever thought we could possibly need at the worst possible time we can imagine.

The moral of the story? Uh, I don't really know how to encapsulate it in one sentence, but for the love of all things good - quadruple-check the dates when you enter information online!

We're Here!

2009-02-24T16:17:00.002-05:00

Well lest anyone start to wonder if I actually made it to Manitoba or not, I figured I bet get something posted up here.

We got here last Tuesday. The trip out was, in two words or less: wretchedly awful. The Little Goat had no interest in sleeping at the hotel, only jumping on the hotel bed and looking out the window at all the passing cars. I hardly slept at all either which turned out to be a good thing since I set my alarm for three PM instead of AM. At any rate, the LG was up at 3:30am Atlantic Time and didn't sleep on the first flight despite still being in pajamas with all the cabin lights dimmed. Alas, she didn't sleep on the second flight either which means that from 3:30am until 12PM Atlantic time, she didn't sleep one wink. I've never been so thankful for seatback television before (or the Treehouse network for that matter).

Anyway, we're here now. My Mom ended up spending a couple extra nights in observation in the hospital back home but is home now and well on the way to recovery.

The LG, on the other hand, is sicker than she's ever been with some sort of evil virus. She's had a fever on and off and been puking and generally lethargic since later Saturday evening.

Other than that, things have been fairly uneventful around here. I went to my best friend's birthday party on Saturday evening and can't remember the last time I laughed that much or that hard - I miss having a good group of girls to hang out with.

Anyway, I'm off to check on the LG who is having her sixth (seventh?) nap of the day.

Girl.

2009-02-13T14:25:00.001-05:00

Hooray!

2009-02-12T11:21:00.002-05:00

A few of you have contacted me on Facebook or via email to ask how my Mom's surgery went yesterday so here's the update.

Everything went great with the surgery! The surgeon told my Dad they took out everything they were planning too. They removed two lymph nodes that will be sent away for testing (results in about 4 weeks) but he took a quick look and said he didn't see anything that concerned him. This means they probably have gotten all the cancer!

So Mom will be in the hospital until Sunday or Monday and my Dad is staying about a five minute walk away. We might get to talk to her tonight. When we called yesterday, Dad wasn't right in the room with her and she was still pretty groggy from surgery/pain meds anyway.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and love. We are so grateful for God's mercy, grace, and provision - not just in this circumstance - but in everything in our lives right now.

The Little Goat and I will be heading Home on Tuesday for three weeks and I can hardly wait!

Crazy Driving

2009-02-10T19:51:00.002-05:00

Well this is what my parents were taking backroads to avoid today. I can only remember one other time when it was this bad and that was my freshman year of college. It was Spring Break and we were two days late getting home because the roads were so bad. Hopefully this weather will all have cleared up by the time I get home.

Icy Roads Wreak Havoc with Manitobans

In Point Form

2009-02-09T14:19:00.003-05:00

I think thermometers have the worst job. Particularly up here, it's either heinously hot or ridiculously cold. There aren't too many days when it's 'just right'. Guess which category today falls in?

I did actually pick a winner in my Bloggy Giveaway. The prize was mailed out last Thursday. The winner was Reva Skie of no fixed bloggy address. I have to say it always disappoints me just a little when the winner is somebody without a blog because there's no place to link back to, no opportunity to get to know the winner a little bit. With that in mind, I've come up with a better idea for my next giveaway and hopefully when that time comes around (May? June?) I'll be able to participate and see if my new idea works. I hope I still remember my new idea by then.

My cousin and her husband left for Germany on January 28th so he could have some fancy back surgery. Well he had his surgery late last week and guess what!? He's almost good as new! Off his medication after only two days, not even using a walker, and "pain-free!" We are praising God with them for successful surgery. They fly home to MB on March 5th so we'll even get to see them before we fly back here too! Yippee!

My parents are driving into Surgery City today even though they have to take all back roads because the main highway is closed because of some really awful weather over the past couple of days. This afternoon, they'll get a tour of all the places in the hospital where they'll be over the next few days. Mom is nervous but that seems perfectly reasonable, given the circumstances. Tomorrow is the big Surgery Day.

Friday is our second, well no, really our fourth, ultrasound and hopefully this time, Sibling X? will cooperate because dang it, I can't wait much longer to find out - it's driving me a little nuts not knowing.

What Evil Has Befallen Us?

2009-02-08T12:38:00.001-05:00

Last week was a little hair-raising and it turns out we can safely attribute the Little Goat's crankiness, lack of appetite, diarrhea, and ridiculous amount of sleeping (four hour naps, people, PLUS sleeping through the night) to a norovirus. She didn't have any fever and well, we just didn't catch on because she's only ever had one cold before and even that didn't last for long.

Of course, as you parents know, what the child gets, so gets the parent. I was just fine on Thursday night but the minute I sat up in bed on Friday morning I knew something wasn't right. Mr. J. came home early so he could be there when the LG woke up from her afternoon nap, seeing as I was rather couch-ridden. We called my midwife after 'dinner' (I drank Gatorade) and figured it was probably a kidney infection. Well no sooner had Mr. J. gone to the pharmacy and back, things changed and oh my goodness - talk about a good colon cleanse! It was AWFUL! But, as of about midday on Sunday, I am feeling significantly better. Still recuperating today and so far Mr. J. is feeling just fine so we are grateful for that.

But then, you know how even when you're feeling at your worst you can be sure there's somebody out there dealing with something just a little bit more horrid? Well we were on our way up to bed on Saturday night when Mr. J. got a call from his dad saying that a friend of ours and his wife had been in a car accident on Saturday morning. (They're retired and spend the winter in AZ.) Some 85 year-old man drove through a red light and broadsided their Suzuki. Well, Earnie has a broken rib...but Dianna didn't make it.

You wouldn't know it, but Earnie & Dianna are regular readers of the blog. They have been since we moved to Maine in 2006. Dianna never left comments in the comments section but I would get these lovely long emails responding to whatever I'd written, offering anecdotes and advice, and telling us all about their latest adventures and hijinks. Those two! (Sorry, THREE - we can't forget Midgee the dog!) Always up to something. Rock hunting, participating in Christmas light parades, having coffee with friends, rubbing in the fact that Yuma weather is so fabulous this time of year....

You were truly a force to be reckoned with, Dianna, but with a kind heart, a lot of common sense (which you know I could resonate with) and a love for the Lord. We will miss you. Earnie - we love you and wish you much Grace and Peace, and will be continuing to pray for you.

Halfway!

2009-01-31T17:03:00.003-05:00

So the little spinning baby over on the side there says I am officially a day past halfway! To celebrate, we made some really tasty french toast for breakfast this morning. We've been trying lots of new easy recipes lately and I think it's time I gave you a little recipe run-down. These are all tasty, quick, easy and generally cheap so you should try them, okay?

Blueberry Muffins: I make muffins generally once or twice a week. This recipe is great and the muffins come out with a kind of crunchy top which we love. I use 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flour and I don't make the streusel topping because I don't like streusel topping on muffins. You can play around with the stuff you add in (as well as the sugar, I usually add about a 1/3 less than the recipe calls for): we like blueberry, but have also used half berries and half cut-up canned peaches, or chopped up banana and a small handful of chocolate chips. I should warn you, if you're feeding more than one little one and a spouse, you might want to double the recipe. This recipe makes about 7 standard-size muffins.

German Apple Pancake: This was Mr. J.'s Saturday breakfast pick from a couple weekends ago. We liked it so much we made it twice in one weekend. We don't have an oven-proof skillet, so we used a big pie plate and did the apple-cooking part of the recipe in the plate in the microwave.

Creamy Corn & Turkey Soup: So simple, so tasty. This would be great with corn biscuits, regular biscuits, or just crackers. We didn't garnish with any red pepper, I just included it all while cooking.

Ham & Potato Soup: This was also super-easy. We just used deli ham, only one oxo cube because that's all we had at the time, and I made the roux in the microwave. Tip: To cut down on the starchiness of your potatoes when you cook them (or when you're baking them as fries), cut then up and let them soak in cold water for about a 1/2 hour. Rinse, drain, and cook/bake as you normally would.

Banana Stuffed French Toast: There's a little prep here, but it's worth it! If you have a griddle thing, use it because it makes this go much faster. Making just a half recipe (5 eggs was just right) was enough for two good pieces for each of us, one for the Little Goat (who LOVED it!) and three left for breakfast tomorrow morning. Oh, and we didn't dip the pieces in corn flakes cause that just sounded....weird.

Next up is this recipe which Mr. J. chose for our Valentine's Day dessert extravaganza. I'm going to borrow a smaller than usual springform pan and try making just a half a cheesecake so I'll let you know how that turns out. Mr. J. is very excited.

In other non-cooking-related news, today has been a really productive day. I'm still working on laundry, but I cleaned both bathrooms, mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors, wrapped a giant package for mailing, did some major clothes-sorting in the closet, AND cleaned out most of the fridge. Now that I'm writing it all out, it doesn't really seem like much, but dangit, it smells like lemon in here so we must've done something. Now I'm off to pick a winner for my contest.

What? Again?

2009-01-26T10:48:00.005-05:00

The Contest Has Ended - Thanks for Stopping By!

Good grief! I completely forgot about the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival being THIS WEEK! It's early Monday afternoon and already there are over 500 giveaways posted. How I will possibly have time for entering, I know not. But I DO have a prize that I've been saving for just this occasion so we better get to that.

The Prize is:
One Mary Kay make-up bag (it's black with pink trim), which includes a set of Creamy Frosted Vanilla body wash, body butter and body mist (a $26 value). No, I don't sell Mary Kay but I picked this up a while ago thinking it would make a pretty fun Bloggy Giveaway prize, so you see, I've been thinking about all of you for a while now.

The Rules Are:
1) Our second baby (we don't know yet if Sibling X? is a boy or girl) is due in June so instead of just leaving a 'boring' old comment, your entry should be a name suggestion and please, nothing stupid or too weird or...ugh. (With apologies to Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner, 'Seraphina' need not apply.)

2) You don't need to have a blog, but I MUST be able to contact you somehow. If I can't, I'll delete your entry.

3) I will ship to either Canada or the U.S. If the winner is in Canada, I may wait to mail the prize until I'm actually in Canada in a few weeks (that's right, people, I'm going home for THREE WHOLE WEEKS - woohoo!).

4) Regular readers should enter two separate comments (if you're a regular, your name is over there on the right under 'blogs I visit').

5) Contest closes Saturday, 31 January at 12 noon EST - don't be late!

No Dice!

2009-01-21T15:21:00.003-05:00

So how's this for annoying early childhood rebellion? Sibling X? wouldn't move his/her legs so we have to wait another THREE weeks! THREE WEEKS!!! ARGH!
We'll try again on the 13th of Feb. and if that doesn't work, well, I'll consult my "extracurricular ultrasonographers." Actually, I'll probably consult them anyway, because a) they have more time on their hands and b) they'll give me a fun CD with moving pictures.

Either way, seriously, HARUMPH. I'll remember this, Kid. Just wait till it's your 16th birthday - we'll make you wait a bonus three weeks for your present!

On the plus side, the Little Goat got a flu shot today and did just swimmingly; she cried a bit at first, but the nurse had her smiling in less than a minute - now there's a nurse to be applauded. Then, while we were waiting for Mr. J. to come and pick us up after his appointment, my midwife, Nancy (who, along with Mary, is totally amazing, by the way) saw us in the hallway and asked if I wanted my flu shot today too. So voila! Us girls can both have arm pain.

We are now home, the LG is napping, I'm about to nap, Mr. J. has taken the cats for their shots (our parting gift to them; remember they're leaving on Saturday....), and when he gets home we will make pizza and eat it and play Wii....because guess who hates watching baseball but is actually pretty good at Wii baseball? Uh huh. Moi.

Now, just so you aren't TOO disappointed by not finding out today (although how you can possibly be more disappointed than me, I can't know), I'm posting a link for this brilliant chicken we had last night. Curried honey mustard chicken: For real, people, eat this SOON. It is THAT good. You can cut down on the butter by a couple tablespoons, I only had time to marinate it for two hours but at least four would be better, serve it with rice and veg, and finally, don't be afraid to use something besides chicken breasts. We used chicken breasts with the bone in and they turned out just lovely, but chicken thighs (or even wings!) would also be amazing with this recipe. Also, we didn't take a picture because the one on the recipe is quite accurate for a change.

Talk to you soon!

A Little of This, a Little of That

2009-01-16T12:03:00.003-05:00

T minus five days and a bunch of hours and we're really starting to get excited about this ultrasound. I'm trying to keep my hopes in check but things just feel so differently this time around that it can't possibly be another girl, can it? (Place your bets now, people.)

For those of you who were asking, our due date is the 19th of June, which some of you may recall is the exact same due date we were given for the Little Goat two years ago. She was three days early; sure enough, as I predicted, my water broke the moment we were finishing setting up the crib in the nursery. We're hoping Sibling X? will make his/her arrival on any day BUT the 16th since we'd just as soon not saddle the LG with having to share a birthday (and seriously, what parent wants to plan TWO parties on the same day - yikes!). I'd also rather Sibling X? not come on the 19th because, well, I don't like odd numbers. On the other hand, Fridays child is "loving and giving."*

On an unrelated note, Mr. J. is right now at this very moment trying to figure out how to get our cats vaccinated and looking halfway decent before we take them down to Airport City to meet their new owner, Ashley. She sounds just like a dream, my friends. She has a dog, but our cats have never seemed bothered by dogs - unless you count the time a friend wanted to adopt them and her EVIL dachshund attacked our poor Bean - I'm guessing that was at least a little bothersome. Besides having a dog, Ashley used to be a vet assistant! How perfect is that? She is so excited to adopt our cats and we are so pleased that we've been able to find them what we hope will be a very happy situation. With me and the LG being gone for several weeks next month, Mr. J. working quite a bit of overtime lately, the frigid weather which makes garage-dwelling not very suitable for the furry beasts, and a new baby coming, the timing is right to move them on. Those of you who had pets before you had children will probably also understand that the void the pets filled in your life is very easily filled by a baby and consequently, we felt it was in the best-interest of the cats to find them a place to live out their lives where they'll be appreciated and loved instead of consistently shoved aside...and also where my asthma and our allergies stand no chance of being affected by them, handily.

In other news, Mr. J. had a very successful doctors appointment yesterday and seems to have found the doctor of his dreams. He came home with a whole page full of notes, hand-written by the doctor, a prescription, AND a free drug sample which should hopefully clear up a hearing issue that's been irritating us for a while already. She seemed really interested in getting to the root of his fatigue and several other problems he's been having and short of offering a real diagnosis, did come up with a plan of attack to figure out a diagnosis. There is hope, and all the problems she talked about have relatively easy solutions that only require a few tests, so wish us luck! We are excited to finally be on the path to getting some answers.

In other news, The Weather Channel forecast predicts tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night will be "bitterly cold." It was -40 Celsius last night (which is also -40 Fahrenheit for my American friends) and it hasn't improved much today. It's not quite as cold as Manitoba has been, but it's sitting at around -30C with the windchill at the moment. Neither car would start this morning, so Mr. J. got a ride to work and came home at lunch with his supervisor to use some starter thing on the cars. It worked on one, the other will have to sit charging all weekend. And yes, the car that still won't start WAS plugged in all night.** So the car that will start is at work and will hopefully start after Mr. J.'s shift ends at 11 tonight.

And this was all very mundane and wordy, but you can now consider yourself updated on nearly all parts of life at Chez J. I'm off to nap before the LG wakes up.

* A side-note for those of you who are of the praying persuasion: We have some other major concerns that, while not precisely pregnancy-related, do nonetheless affect the pregnancy and delivery of this baby. I really want to share those concerns with you, but I just can't right now, but trust me, the very second I can tell you, I WILL.

** For my 'southern' friends: You can equip a car battery with a warmer that you plug in at night. Plugging it in is supposed to keep the battery just warm enough so the car can start in the morning. Plugging in the car at night is de riguer on the Prairies in the winter and most car parking lots at private businesses have spots for employees to plug in their cars during work. It's also quite common to see extension cords wrapped around rear-view mirrors for convenient transport during the day (sorry, I can't find a picture of that). Around here, however, nobody seems to care about plugging in vehicles. They're all crazy and would obviously rather pay to replace a car battery every year than take care of it during winter.

Being Well-Rounded

2009-01-13T10:59:00.003-05:00

Minnesota Mom posted this sort of meme last week. Supposedly, having experienced all these things makes you some sort of well-rounded person. In reality, I'm already becoming quite a *ahem* well-rounded person.

Here's how it works: All the ones that are 'bolded' are things I've done or seen or whatever because I just KNOW you wanted to know all this about me. I'm not tagging anyone, per se, but if you'd like to play along on your own blog, you are of course, very free to do so.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

7. Been to Disneyland/world

8. Climbed a mountain.

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29 Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33 Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41 Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Gotten flowers for no reason

64 Donated blood, platelets, or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66 Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67 Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79 Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a lawsuit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee (this is possibly the one I am most proud of - almost 30 years and never once stung by a bee!)

2009-01-08T10:14:00.002-05:00

Well that little ticker at the bottom of the blog - the one that used to tell you how long I'd been "supplying the Little Goat's milk" - is gone. Gone because as of the 1st of January, she is officially weaned. The weaning process was exactly how I wanted it to be, not stressed at all, just a natural, easy progression from nursing to....not. I told myself beforehand that I wasn't going to wimp out and get all weepy but of course, that first night she cried a little bit, but cuddled with her Dad I turned into a blubbering mess.

It's the clean break in my mind of the leap from babyhood to toddlerhood and let me tell you - we are fully THERE. Oi. Little Miss I-Don't-Want-to-Eat-that-Amazingly-Tasty-Food-that-I-Just-Ate-Only-Yesterday-and-Loved and Little Miss Let's-Just-Sit-on-the-Kitchen-Floor-and-Cry-Until-I-Get-What-I-Want have converged to begin the transformation of our Sweetest Little Pea into an Independent Delight - or something like that. Well, harumph to you too, Little Goat! Argh! Just go play with your toys.

Furthermore, everybody keeps telling us that 'she'll talk when she's ready' and that 'it's okay that she's not talking yet', and that 'hey! We should be thankful she's not talking yet because once she gets started.....' and so on. Frankly, I'm getting sick of hearing all that. I just want the kid to speak in ENGLISH WORDS. It's not that I want her to start saying 'no' all the time, but it would be so much easier if instead of crying, she could just tell us what she wants. The looks we get from some people too - ouch! We'll be at the grocery store and a person will start talking to her, of course expecting a reply, and I'll say something like, 'oh, she doesn't talk yet.' To which they respond with the appropriate (?) pitying/condescending look and say one of the aforementioned phrases like, 'well, she'll just talk when she's ready then.'

UGH.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG. I have an ultrasound in two weeks (21 Jan.) at which point we'll find out the gender of our little Sibling X?. I'm excited about that and yes, I CARE what gender it is. I DO have a preference. I'm not afraid to admit that.

Also, my Mom has her surgery date all set (11 Feb.) and our flights are booked and I can hardly wait to go Home!

And for today, that is all. A little whining, a little ranting, and some excitement to finish things off.

'Tis the Eve of the New Year

2008-12-31T11:19:00.004-05:00

So out with the old, in with the new and all that jazz. Today is the day bloggers everywhere are supposed to write some great pensive post about all the highs and lows of 2008 while extolling the yet-to-be-actually-lived-through wonders to come in 2009.

Mostly, I had a terrible sleep last night, the LG had a terrible sleep last night and I messed up my shoulder so badly exercising yesterday that it's hampering my ability to breathe without pain. Bring on the New Year!

The great year of 2008 was pretty good with the exception of a few things, most notably my Mom's getting sick. However, looking ahead to everything we are anticipating in 2009 - all the things we can tell you about like a trip to Manitoba and the impending arrival of Sibling 'X?'* - and all the things we can't tell you about like that ___________ for _____ and we should _______ if _______. We are _________! Also, that ___________, which would be ______ for ____ and lots of _____________. Lucky ___________!

And so on.

So here's to 2008. And here's to 2009 trouncing it completely!

Happy New Year!

*For now, we will refer to The Baby as "Sibling X?." As you know, gender is determined by either an 'X' or 'Y' chromosome and since we know not which is it as this point, we will stick with a Question Mark and keep you posted. And yes, we WILL be finding out because surprises of this magnitude and me? NOT. FRIENDS. Actually, surprises in general - hate 'em. Hate.

For Unto Us a Child is Born, part two

2008-12-26T12:11:00.004-05:00

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

*For the record, that is not a 'head' and 'body' in the picture, but something a little more like this. That picture was taken at barely 6 weeks along. By now it actually LOOKS more like a real baby!

For Unto Us a Child is Born, part one

2008-12-25T15:16:00.003-05:00

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

Christmas Cookies: Check!

2008-12-24T11:15:00.004-05:00

It's Christmas Eve and the Christmas baking is finally completed. Therefore I must regale you with recipes and tales of baking hilarity. Or not so much. Below is a picture of a plate full of all the goodies. I only put them on that plate for the picture and then all but one tiny bite went back in the freezer. It would seem that in the spirit of Christmas and all, Mr. J. unknowingly transported some tiny bug home from work and I have thusly been afflicted by the Christmas Scourge of '08, meaning that at present, my Christmas Eve Service attendance is in grave peril. This would be the first time since the inception of the Christmas Eve Service at my church growing up that I would miss a C. E. Service. Boo! But I digress. In the picture, you will see (clockwise from top left): Caramel Toffee Squares, Macaroon Cake Balls, Black Forest Cake Balls, Date-filled Cookies (or "Jam Jams"), Russian Tea Cakes, Chocolate Truffles, and finally, No-Time Chocolate Fingers (and yes that dish is rather precariously perched on a window sill).

In retrospect, we're a little heavy on the chocolate so perhaps next year we'll attempt to diversify, but I do like chocolate and I married a man who also has a deep appreciation for almost any incarnation of the cacao bean, so why not go with what we like best?

Should you find yourself, as we do, with a lot of time on your hands today or tomorrow or maybe on Boxing Day, or perhaps even Valentine's Day, here are some recipes and links for your baking pleasure.

1. Caramel Toffee Squares: these have been a favourite in my family for years but I'll warn you they are tricky - worth it, but tricky. I always have trouble with the filling. My Mom is a genius at making it in the microwave but when I tried that the other night, I cooked it way too long (at least to the soft crack stage), resulting in what Mr. J. calls the "best tasting flop ever." It's now some lovely hard toffee candy reminiscint of what my mom used to make when we were little, only with a slightly burnt flavour. Oops. The second batch I made turned out perfect, until Mr. J. opened the fridge door and dumped them out and filling was EVERYWHERE. (Don't worry, I left the kitchen to avoid ruining our Christmas spirit.) The third batch seems to have turned out just fine. Phew! [They also don't mail well (that's really too bad for such a tasty treat...mmm....yes.....too bad....).]
Note: 1/2 cup of s.c. milk is approx. half a can. Use the other half for a half-batch of Number 6.

2. Cake Balls: Bake a cake mix in a 9x13 pan. When it's cool, use two forks to tear it apart into crumbs. Combine with almost one tub of storebought icing. Chill in the fridge for about an hour. Roll into small balls and coat with melted chocolate chips or almond bark. For the macaroon ones we used coconut cake mix and also added in half a bag of shredded coconut. For the black forest ones, we used a dark chocolate cake mix and added in almost a whole can of blended cherry pie filling (no icing in those ones). Easy and great for potlucks.

3. Date-filled Cookies: These are really an old-timery cookie I think. I grew up eating these. They're some of my Moms favourites and they were a favourite of my Grampa too. A molasses cookie on either side of some delicious (and full of fibre and nutrients, I might add) date filling. For the date filling: Use kitchen scissors to cut up one package (8 oz.) of pitted dates. Microwave them in a bowl with 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 cup of orange juice for about 4-5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 tsp. of baking soda. Let it cool, stirring occasionally, and it will thicken. Then spread on a cookie and top with another cookie. Like a sandwich.

4. Russian Tea Cakes, as previously blogged.

5. Chocolate Truffles: Not as decadent as these, which might actually be an act of divine inspiration (quick! buy some! they're on sale!), but definitely a little tasty treat. We always use non-fat sweetened condensed milk so I consider them a slightly lower-fat treat. Plus, nobody will guess you didn't slave for hours.

6. Finally, No-Time Chocolate Fingers. These are a delectable combination of chocolate, graham wafers/crackers and marshmallows and they almost never turn out well enough to serve to actual guests, but we like them just fine. That said, I'm not going to post the recipe unless my Mom can tell me what I'm doing wrong. If you really want it, you can email me and maybe YOU can fix it.

Have a delicious Christmas!

Some Not Really Good News at All with a Tiny Silver Lining

2008-12-23T14:10:00.002-05:00

So my Mom is sick. I don't want to go into too many details because she's at liberty to share that information with whom she will share it. Suffice to say that she has been sick for a while but only recently diagnosed, and will be having major surgery either at the end of January or the beginning of February. This didn't really come out of nowhere, yet we still feel caught off guard. You know the 'it's supposed to be somebody else's parent' feeling? Yeah, well, it's not supposed to be my Mom, dangit!

There is a tiny silver lining though and that is that the Little Goat and I will be making the trek Home (HOME!) for a few weeks to help out after the surgery. The LG will hopefully cooperate in providing positively delightful (hint, hint, Kid) entertainment so I can get supper on the table. And yes, Dad, I expect help and I expect you to rinse your coffee cup and also I don't clean bathrooms. Hey, I just want to lay our services out on the table before we get there.

Please be in prayer for Mom as she prepares for surgery - that God would give her both grace and peace about the process AND that she won't go crazy being off work for several weeks!

Love you, Mom! We've already started a list of everything we're bringing home.

Making Up for Lost Time

2008-12-22T10:28:00.003-05:00

Okay, so maybe just this once, the weather people weren't exaggerating because good grief! It's cold, it's blowing, and we got about a billion inches of snow last night. The weather was still fine when we left for the church Christmas concert and supper at 5 but by the time we were headed home at 6:30, it was already coming down. And it didn't stop until sometime, well, no, wait. It started up again.

Luckily for us, Mr. J. was on call last night! Oh yippee. The ER called shortly after five this morning to warn him that they would be calling in less than an hour because the EMTs had just gone on a call. So we hauled ourselves out of bed at 5:30, got more bundled up than I care to be and headed outside. SO. COLD. *chatter*

We dug just enough to get one car out (some of the drifts out there were past my waist) and Mr. J. left for work. I was not very happy about that because if it had been me, I would've called in and said, 'see you Tuesday,' but I don't feel the need to take risks in bad weather and be any kind of hero. Anyway, he called later and he had made it in so I guess that's good. Let the knitting party commence!

The Little Goat and I just stood by the window for a while watching the neighbours use their snowblowers. Sadly, a lot of the snow on the next-door neighbours driveway is, mostly because of the wind, now on our driveway, but I've been excused from further shoveling duty today so I'll take advantage of that. I really don't know how much snow we got, but most of you know that despite being born and raised in Manitoba where there are, in fact, many snow-loving people, I can hardly stand the stuff - at least not when it's snowy AND cold.

I'm too lazy to go take more pictures now, but I'll leave you with a few from just after our shoveling this morning. Pardon the fact that the light is bad and you can hardly see through the snow stuck to the window.

Snow stuck to the front window.

There are three cars on that driveway.

A Somber Morning

2008-12-15T08:00:00.004-05:00

I was going to tell you all about the Christmas party on Saturday night, but our neighbourhood has had quite an eventful morning and I'm going to tell you about that instead.

I was out of bed at 7:52 after I thought I heard some kids getting excited about seeing a fire truck. Naturally I wondered why they weren't in school (I thought it was later than 8am).

Then the siren got louder and closer and I looked out the window. There was smoke streaming out the door jam on the main floor and from underneath the eaves. The yelling I heard was our next-door neighbour helping Mrs. L. (she's the only one that lived there) away from her house and getting the attention of the fire truck. About a minute later, there were flames shooting up from the back end of the roof.

I debated about taking pictures and posting them - this is a tragedy as much as a spectacle, and I have no idea what might have caused the fire - but right around Christmas (and in winter) when most of us have Christmas lights up and quite possibly a space heater going, it's important to remember to make sure that all our lights and heaters are up to code and used as safely as possible.

I saw smoke at 7:52am. This was twenty minutes later:

This is after all the fire trucks/fighters have left*:

Please continue to pray for Mrs. L. It looks like whatever is in her (detached) garage will be fine, but I only saw the firefighters recover a single trunk from the house.

*These photos were both taken today so I'm not sure why the dates don't match.

For My Bloggy Friend Jodie...

2008-12-13T15:07:00.004-05:00

....in honour of her new microwave!

(Except I can't remember if there's a peanut allergy in your family and if there is, I'm very sorry for forgetting.)

Peanut Butter Pudding - slightly adapted from the lovely folks at King Arthur Flour, where normally you can find a whole whack of tasty recipes...except maybe this one...

Scant 1/2 cup sugar
1 T. flour
1 T. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup butter (I used about 2 T. instead)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter

Now the original recipe gives you the directions for making this on the stove, but I'm going to ONLY give you the microwave directions as they worked for me so hah! Use your microwave for something other than heating up food, okay? It's perfectly good for actually cooking in.

Directions: In a big glass bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt and eggs. Set aside. Measure the milk in a glass measuring cup and microwave it for 3-4 minutes or until VERY hot. Whisk it into the ingredients in the glass bowl. Microwave that mixture for 2-3 minutes, whisking every minute until it thickens. Immediately add the butter, vanilla and peanut butter. Whisk until everything is combined. Pour into serving dishes and serve warm or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.*

* I LOVE pudding skin, but if you hate it, when you use plastic wrap to cover the pudding until serving, making sure the wrap is pressing down directly on top of the pudding. Remove it before you serve dessert and behold! No skin!

Easy Christmas Cookies

2008-12-13T12:24:00.005-05:00

I got this recipe from my very dear friend, Kara, last Christmas. These are super easy, your kids can help (hey, even the LG helped with these twice this week) and they look really pretty in a little box or bag for giving away.

Mexican Wedding Cakes (or Russian Tea Cakes)
Cream together:
1 cup softened butter (no substitutes)
1/2 cup icing sugar (that's 'powdered' sugar to my American friends)
1 tsp. vanilla

Then Add:
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (we use pecans)
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix the dry ingredients in until they dough starts to stick together. Let chill for about an hour. While the oven is preheating to 400 degrees, roll the dough into little balls. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are: slightly firm, slightly brown, and have a few surface cracks. Let them cool on papertowels on wire racks but while they're still warm, roll them in icing sugar. Then, when they're completely cooled, roll them in icing sugar again.

VARIATION: We decided to try some without nuts too and they turned out great! Replace the vanilla with 1/2 tsp. of almond flavouring and replace the nuts with the zest from two oranges. Everything else is the same.

Don't eat too many!

Tuna is Yummy

2008-12-13T11:45:00.004-05:00

Guess what! Tonight is Mr. J.'s work Christmas party so we get to go out without the Little Goat! No, no, we're not leaving her home alone. She's going over to her babysitter's house to be greatly amused and entertained by three of her favourite girls and one of her favourite boys and hopefully (!) not be too cranky by the time we get back there to pick her up.

I've decided it's time to post some recipes because it seems like it's been a while. Since Christmas is coming and we've all got lots of other things to do, I thought I would pass along three pretty simple recipes that are fancy without being overly irksome. I'm going to put them in three separate posts for the sake of ease.

You may recall that on Mr. J.'s birthday we ate 'fancy' crab cakes from the 'fancy' seafood department at a local grocery store. They were decidedly LESS than stellar (no thanks to YOU, Hannaford Inspirations!). A little over a year ago, I was watching some Paula Dean 'holiday' special and she was showing how to make "crab" cakes on a budget. The secret ingredient? Canned tuna. Well the first time I made them for Mr. J., he said he really couldn't tell the difference.So, because the ingredients are cheap and they taste superb (and because the LG loves them) we make them at least every few weeks. We don't use Paula Dean's recipe anymore becuase I found one we like better that includes more veggies. Here's a link and I encourage you to try them. We sometimes add some finely diced celery; we use Albacore tuna because the Wal...mart brand is cheap; and we usually bake them (with a slight broil at the end for crispiness) instead of frying them, but you do what you like.

If you don't have any tartar sauce to eat with them, you can try making your own by mixing some Miracle Whip (we use 'light') with a couple tablespoons of dill relish (or chopped up dill pickles) and some dried dill. Just make sure you let it sit for as long as possible so the flavours meld.

These are great with salad or a fresh veggie tray on the side!

A Christmas Meme...Because I Have Other Things to Get Done

2008-12-09T20:30:00.005-05:00

Minnesota Mom tagged me for this Christmasy meme. Good timing because it gave me something to write about this week amidst a rather sizeable amount of Christmas busyness. This is the week we finish wrapping presents and get them mailed off to Canada, to the other side of this Continent, and overseas. Feel free to be 'tagged' for the meme, or just leave your answers in the comments!

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate!

Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? Santa? Who? Presents are wrapped by real humans (*gasp*) and put under the tree as we go - none of this waiting for Christmas Eve crap.

Colored lights on tree or white? We just got a prelit tree and the lights are all white. More lights than any tree of ours has ever had!

When do you put your decorations up? The first Sunday of Advent.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Christmas ham!

Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Pizza before the Christmas Eve service.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I have no idea when but I'm sure my parents just told us. I think my pragmatic mind and 'lack of imagination' (per the observation of my Grade 4 teacher) probably wouldn't allow me to believe in such foolishness.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Just one gift? Hah! We open them ALL on Christmas Eve. Getting up early is for crazies and we always spent Christmas Day with Grama & Grampa.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Carefully. 'Unbreakables' at the bottom.

Snow! Love it or Dread it? I do like snow on Christmas...pretty much I like it in December. Then that's enough.

Can you ice skate? Absolutely! What kind of Canadian would I be if I couldn't skate?

Do you remember your favorite gift? Nope. Can't think of a favourite.

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Celebrating CHRISTMAS.

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Christmas baking. I don't really care what kind, just anything baked with the intention of having around for visitors at Christmas.

What is your favorite tradition? Family Christmas on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with extended family.

Which do you prefer, Giving or Receiving? I'd rather give. Honestly, I'm not very good at 'getting' gifts.

What is your favorite Christmas Song? Good King Wenceslas! That's the song I sing as the LG's 'lullaby' at night.

Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? *gag*

Ever recycled a Christmas present? I'll never tell.

EXCITING NEWS!

2008-12-05T11:55:00.003-05:00

Oh I have the most exciting news to share with you guys!! I think I'm allowed to share it now. I hope so. Sorry if I'm not.

On Wednesday, December 3rd, my Uncle and Aunt got home from a month and a half long trip to Ukraine. And guess who they brought home with them?

MY NEW COUSIN! Oh I'm so excited! We haven't seen pictures yet or anything but we can hardly wait to meet her even though that won't likely be until next year. Her name is Maryna and she's six and oh boy! oh boy! My Uncle and Aunt are PARENTS now and we have a new COUSIN!

Just wanted to share that with you. If you a person inclined to pray, please keep them in your prayers as they spend their first Christmas together; pray that they will settle in to being a family at just the right pace.

My Little Iron Chef

2008-12-04T15:40:00.005-05:00

I haven't posted in a bit because it would seem that I'm just not that into blogging right now. The Little Goat is highly mobile and between keeping her out of things and keeping the (more annoying by the moment) cats out of her face, plus whatever else might be going on, I just don't feel that much like blogging. I'm not quitting, just posting less for now which means good things for you guys - go read other blogs that are less....drivelly! There are lots of options over there in the sidebar.

Last Saturday we were supposed to have four free hours of babysitting thanks to a planned event for kids at church. Sadly that all fell through really at the last minute and once again reaffirmed to me that Northern Mainers (or maybe it's just New Englanders in general) cannot be counted upon for anything, despite what the crazy lady on the radio commercial tells us about Mainers knowing "they can depend upon each othuh." I was more than a little annoyed because what was supposed to be a quiet child-free afternoon of Christmas shopping and going for coffee, turned into a rather disorganized evening of quite child-full Christmas shopping, definitely not quiet coffee, and late dinner. *sigh* I'm mostly over it now though and happy that we now have almost all the shopping done with one or two exceptions.

Yesterday was Mr. J.'s birthday! We had (sadly lacking) crab cakes for dinner along with a very lovely halibut fillet and BLT salad mix. The dessert he picked this year isn't a recipe I can link to, but it comes from the Company's Coming Everything Chocolate cookbook. If you're American, you've probably never heard of Company's Coming which is a series of cookbooks that I grew up with, the brainchild of Saskatchewan native, Jean If-I-have-to-strain-a -fake-smile-any-more-my-face-will-crack Pare. If you live in Canada and you don't own a Company's Coming cookbook, what is wrong with you!? Really, what kind of Canadian cook are you? Perhaps my favourite thing about the C.C. Everything Chocolate book is that when she talks about pie, she always tells you how many "wedges" it cuts into. Not 'slices' but wedges. (I don't know why but I just can't stand the word 'slices.' Ugh.)

Anyway, it was Caramel Truffle Pie and it was disgustingly rich but so incredibly tasty and here is a picture so you can all commence with the drooling. We each had a piece last night and the rest went into the freezer today for some future occasion.

It looks like half the pie is gone, but I assure you it was only two "wedges."

Also, the LG helped me make the birthday pie! She helped crush the chocolate cookies to make crumbs, dumped them in the bowl, dumped in the pecans, stirred the caramels (and snuck one before they were melted too) and sit and watch things melt in the microwave. It was great. I can't wait till she's a little older and can do a little more helping too. We did try again today when we made bread, but it resulted in a rather sizeable yeast mishap, so maybe we'll wait a while before we bake together again. It does give us something to do in the mornings though....

She's getting really great at immitating. The other day when I put on my exercise DVD, she got all excited and started walking in place just like on the TV. Then yesterday afternoon, she was playing with this little chicken she has. She put it in this candle she's been playing with that comes in a little tin and proceeded to immitate seasoning the chicken. Hah! It was brilliant! I wish I had a picture. Watch out, Bobby Flay! If you're still around in 20 years, she might be ready to challenge you in Kitchen Stadium.

Action shot of the LG pounding the chocolate crumbs.
Okay, tapping, TAPPING the chocolate crumbs.

What in Tarnation?

2008-11-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

Our trip to Airport City was a resounding success, despite a rather rough start. The snow that was supposed to start at around 11am actually started at around midnight and we woke up to a wintery winterness on Saturday morning. I was hoping that's how our first big snow would come, except I was hoping it would be on a Saturday when we didn't have anywhere to go. So the roads driving down were pretty crappy.

We didn't bring home too many Christmas presents although we got a few. I got a new tshirt, the Little Goat got several summery things from the clearance rack at Old Navy (they were even having 50% off the clearance price - can you say $22 skirt for $1.49?!) and we picked up a boxed set of beginner puzzles for her Christmas present. We tested some back massagers and oh goodness, if we had lots of money, it would be back massagers all around this Christmas. Alas, one of these is probably more likely.

We did all the big box stores on Saturday, grabbed some vittles from Wendy's and headed back to our hotel which was super nice and we were kicking ourselves for not having taken advantage of the work discount there before. We didn't end up going swimming because the LG hardly had any nap at all on the way down and was on the cranky side. Also, there were several junior boys hockey teams staying there and sharing a pool with a bunch of rowdy preteen boys didn't seem like such a great idea. Then, she didn't want to go to sleep. Granted, the TV was on, but hello! CABLE! We got to watch Cops in real time plus the Iron Chef Thanksgiving special!

Sunday morning, we had planned to sleep in, but sharing a room with a 17-month-old isn't entirely conducive to such things so we were up by 8, waded through the masses for breakfast sandwiches and waffles in the lobby and headed out at 11. Sunday was less successful as a shopping day although we did enjoy lunch at this fabulous Jewish bagel place (yes, it's Jewish; no, we can't figure out why there was bacon on the menu) and some sweet, sweet festive treats at Starbucks where we actually got the quiz question right for a change. They have this question on the board when you go in and if you get it right, you get a free flavour shot or extra shot in your latte or whatever. Of course, neither of us ordered drinks that required extra anything so too bad.

Anyway, it was a good trip. It was relaxing. Next year we will try to go for two nights instead of just one, but we were glad to be home where the LG actually sleeps!

*******************

Yesterday, Mr. J. decided to go out to do a little shoveling since he never got the chance on the weekend and guess what?! Our neighbour actually lent him her snowscoop to use! HUMAN CONTACT! We think it was residual excitement stemming from the acquisition of a brand new snowblower on her part. Still, Mr. J. was grateful and now is dreaming about his very own snowscoop.

2008-11-21T10:53:00.004-05:00

No Mother Earth tagged me for a meme wherein I post the sixth picture from the sixth folder in our picture files and wouldn't you know, it's one I've already posted. The meme also requires one to explain what's going on but as you can plainly see, the Little Goat is carefully pretending to pour Penguin a beverage. On the floor. Talented kid, she is.

NoMo also posted 7 Random Things but instead of writing about herself, she wrote about her oldest boy, so I will copy her. Only I'll write about my girl because we have no oldest boy.

7 Random Things About the Little Goat:
1) We call her the Little Goat because when she was very little, she sounded an awful lot like a goat.
2) She does NOT like to get her hair washed. Oh the horror!
3) She loves tomato-y things. Hooray!
4) I don't think she can decide if she likes or loathes our two cats, though she's awfully fond of the one she got in the mail from Grama and Grampa last week. 5) She's not a big vegetable fan other than those tomatoes.
6) She always bounces in the same corner of her crib while she's waiting to be collected.
7) If you dare take Kitty away even during a diaper change, you are IN TROUBLE.

In other news, we're heading down to Airport City tomorrow and STAYING OVERNIGHT. I know! It's exciting! I can hardly wait! We'll do just a little Christmas shopping and eating out and I got all brave and packed the LG's swimsuit and a couple swim diapers because I found out today the hotel has a pool. Yippee! I'll tell you all about it next week! Have a great weekend!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-19T19:18:00.001-05:00

Big shoes to fill.