Finished Harry Potter. Phewf! What a ride!
Two nights ago I hit the point of no return and couldn't put it down. This coincided with McPie having band practice one night and a show the next, so I was alone on kid duty. Last night I scurried them off to bed early and stayed up late to finish off the book.
Am I a bad parent if I suggested that the children eat dinner in front of the TV - so I could squeeze in half an hour of reading while eating? Probably... However, Constance called me on it and insisted the three of us eat dinner together at the table. I sucked it up and with effort, cast Harry aside for the moment.
I was rewarded for my sacrifice with a rare* bout of meal-appreciation for the meaty-cheesy spaghetti. Hugs and thank yous and more pleases and subsequent warm-fuzzies abounded.
*I'm exaggerating - meal-appreciation is actually quite common in our house - B & C are great eaters, and are cooperative (even enthusiastic) about trying new things. Last night, however, they were particular effusive in their praise.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Luckity luck luck
I won something! Something good! I never win anything. (I know everyone says this and it's rarely true. I've probably won things before, I just don't remember, and they fade in the light of my excitement over my current win.)
Last night we attended an evening work event. Highly unusual for my company - even our Christmas party is scheduled for the afternoon (though it's catered with good music, entertainment for kids, and whatnot). Anyway, boat cruise on the Ottawa River with buffet dinner, drink tickets (!) and door prizes (!!).
I was so shocked I could barely get up to claim my prize - they almost moved on a drew another ticket. (Well, they probably wouldn't have, but anyway.) I won a gift certificate to Beckta, one of the awesomest restos in the NCC! Extra exciting because McPie has never been there, and we often talk about going... but never get around to it. Maybe we should use it to celebrate our one-month "anniversary"? (McPie calls this the "dust anniversary".)
So, yay!
Also, the boat cruise was quite nice. We had good conversations with coworkers we don't get to chat with enough. Discovered several quirky "small world" connections, and I can't say enough about being out on the water on a calm, beautiful night.
On another note, we made an interesting discovery in the realm of first aid. Or home healthcare, I guess, because curing an ailment that's been ongoing for weeks is hardly "first" aid. Anyway, I've been struggling to manage horrible blisters that I got from new cleats. (New cleats to replace the other awful cleats that gave me blisters on other parts of my feet, and worse. Note that the OTHER toe now looks like that too. You don't want to see pics.) I know once I get the horrible heel blisters healed, the cleats will be great. However, how do you get blisters to heal when they are on a spot that is always being used? Two words:
Nipple cream.
Yep. It was McPie's brilliant idea. Turns out there's some in the cupboard from... well, maybe when the kids were little, but since their mom is a midwife, it's possible that they just had it around. Anyway, McPie has been using it as a cure-all -- kids cracked lips and dry noses and such. I put it last night on wounds that have been trying unsuccessfully to mend for weeks now, and this morning I felt the "healing itch" for the first time.
So, I highly recommend the Lansinoh for general home health care, whether that be horrible blisters from new cleats, or the "sore, cracked nipples" for which it's recommended. (Though I personally have no experience with the latter, I'm sure La Leche League knows what they're talking about...)
Last night we attended an evening work event. Highly unusual for my company - even our Christmas party is scheduled for the afternoon (though it's catered with good music, entertainment for kids, and whatnot). Anyway, boat cruise on the Ottawa River with buffet dinner, drink tickets (!) and door prizes (!!).
I was so shocked I could barely get up to claim my prize - they almost moved on a drew another ticket. (Well, they probably wouldn't have, but anyway.) I won a gift certificate to Beckta, one of the awesomest restos in the NCC! Extra exciting because McPie has never been there, and we often talk about going... but never get around to it. Maybe we should use it to celebrate our one-month "anniversary"? (McPie calls this the "dust anniversary".)
So, yay!
Also, the boat cruise was quite nice. We had good conversations with coworkers we don't get to chat with enough. Discovered several quirky "small world" connections, and I can't say enough about being out on the water on a calm, beautiful night.
On another note, we made an interesting discovery in the realm of first aid. Or home healthcare, I guess, because curing an ailment that's been ongoing for weeks is hardly "first" aid. Anyway, I've been struggling to manage horrible blisters that I got from new cleats. (New cleats to replace the other awful cleats that gave me blisters on other parts of my feet, and worse. Note that the OTHER toe now looks like that too. You don't want to see pics.) I know once I get the horrible heel blisters healed, the cleats will be great. However, how do you get blisters to heal when they are on a spot that is always being used? Two words:
Nipple cream.
Yep. It was McPie's brilliant idea. Turns out there's some in the cupboard from... well, maybe when the kids were little, but since their mom is a midwife, it's possible that they just had it around. Anyway, McPie has been using it as a cure-all -- kids cracked lips and dry noses and such. I put it last night on wounds that have been trying unsuccessfully to mend for weeks now, and this morning I felt the "healing itch" for the first time.
So, I highly recommend the Lansinoh for general home health care, whether that be horrible blisters from new cleats, or the "sore, cracked nipples" for which it's recommended. (Though I personally have no experience with the latter, I'm sure La Leche League knows what they're talking about...)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
That's MRS. McPie to you
Sweetie McPie and I visited Quebec City a few weeks ago for vacation, and while we were there we got married.
Wait, that makes it sound like a spur of the moment thing. Rather, we went to Quebec City for the purpose of wedding. And to enjoy a honeymoon, of course. We'd been planning it for a few months, after deciding earlier this year that it was the very thing we wanted to do.
Technically speaking, I suppose you could say we eloped. In fact, the only person who knew we were going was the friend we asked to sign the application form as a witness. We hired an officiant, and he brought along two witnesses.
We had a most wonderful weekend. We stayed at a lovely Victorian Inn right in the main part of the old city, just down the street from the Chateau Frontenac. We arrived on Thursday night, and spent Friday morning choosing the park for our ceremony. Our officiant had suggested two parks near our Inn, and we chose the quiet secluded one on top of the hill - the Parc du Cavalier du Moulin.
Then we spent some time shopping in the Lower Town for wedding essentials like a purse (for me), a belt (for McPie), and shoes (we both got some). In a pleasant surprise one rarely experiences while shopping, McPie found earrings and a bracelet that would go perfectly with my dress. Lucky me!
After stealing an hour in our room to write down our "readings" (since we had no guests to impress, we planned to replace the typical wedding ceremony readings with an exchange of thoughts and sentiments); we hadn't had time to do it before then! Then we got dressed up and headed out to meet Rev. Lafrance. (It was hot hot hot and sunny, so McPie decided to eschew the new suit he'd gotten for the occasion, and went with the linen shirt and pants he'd packed in just in case. It worked out perfectly. All linen, all around.)
We met Rev Lafrance and the witnesses Claire and Michel (both also officiants) behind the Chateau Frontenac, and slowly walked the block up the hill to the park. It was breezy and shady up there (but still hot!).
And we got married. It was a wonderful, peaceful, moving moment.
After everything was signed and sealed, we sent the Reverend and his fellows on their way. We stayed in the park for awhile, taking some pictures and enjoying some quiet time. Then we walked back to the Inn, and sat in the beautiful lounge enjoying some champagne. We'd planned to take a caleche ride before dinner, but it was so hot they'd taken the horses off the roads. We were ok with that, being quite content to just relax and enjoy our drinks. We decided to saunter over to the Chateau for a proper pre-dinner cocktail.
Our very attentive concierge, however, let us know that the horses were back on the streets (it was after 6 PM), and so we did both - a horse and buggy ride around the old city, and then "Danny" dropped us off in front of the Chateau.
A Long Island Iced Tea and Negroni later, we stumbled down the big hill to dinner (did I mention the champagne? Actually, the stumbling was mostly high heels + steep hill + plantar fasciitis - lovely, I know).
Dinner at Toast! was amazing. We ordered the tasting menu and spend the next five hours amusing our bouches with the tastiest of tidbits, each of which came with a "matching" wine. The walk home may have been stumblier, but I was not aware of whether or not the cobbles hurt my heel-clad feet!
We spent the rest of the weekend touristing around the old city. Some highlights included:
It was hard to decide how to let the rest of the family and our close friends know. We didn't really want to put anyone on the spot by cold calling. So we made little announcements to send out, which we did last week, just before we went away to Nats. Apparently, there was a bit of a weekend rumour mill going, because the family in Ontario found out before the family in Nova Scotia (Mom! Sister!) See, even when you downplay everything as much as humanly possible, wedding drama is always unavoidable. Sigh.
We already felt like a family, which is why it made perfect sense to us to go all official. A quiet, private celebration felt the most suitable for us. We've been private, quiet, and celebratory all along. I didn't think it would be possible to feel like MORE of a family, but it already does. The happy surprises just don't stop around here.
If you want to see some photos, click the picture below... I'm hoping to upload more shots from the rest of the vacation soon.
[edit: I have no explanation for the strange spacing change in the body of this post. I've fiddled, and can't fix it. So be it.]
Wait, that makes it sound like a spur of the moment thing. Rather, we went to Quebec City for the purpose of wedding. And to enjoy a honeymoon, of course. We'd been planning it for a few months, after deciding earlier this year that it was the very thing we wanted to do.
Technically speaking, I suppose you could say we eloped. In fact, the only person who knew we were going was the friend we asked to sign the application form as a witness. We hired an officiant, and he brought along two witnesses.
We had a most wonderful weekend. We stayed at a lovely Victorian Inn right in the main part of the old city, just down the street from the Chateau Frontenac. We arrived on Thursday night, and spent Friday morning choosing the park for our ceremony. Our officiant had suggested two parks near our Inn, and we chose the quiet secluded one on top of the hill - the Parc du Cavalier du Moulin.
Then we spent some time shopping in the Lower Town for wedding essentials like a purse (for me), a belt (for McPie), and shoes (we both got some). In a pleasant surprise one rarely experiences while shopping, McPie found earrings and a bracelet that would go perfectly with my dress. Lucky me!
After stealing an hour in our room to write down our "readings" (since we had no guests to impress, we planned to replace the typical wedding ceremony readings with an exchange of thoughts and sentiments); we hadn't had time to do it before then! Then we got dressed up and headed out to meet Rev. Lafrance. (It was hot hot hot and sunny, so McPie decided to eschew the new suit he'd gotten for the occasion, and went with the linen shirt and pants he'd packed in just in case. It worked out perfectly. All linen, all around.)
We met Rev Lafrance and the witnesses Claire and Michel (both also officiants) behind the Chateau Frontenac, and slowly walked the block up the hill to the park. It was breezy and shady up there (but still hot!).
And we got married. It was a wonderful, peaceful, moving moment.
After everything was signed and sealed, we sent the Reverend and his fellows on their way. We stayed in the park for awhile, taking some pictures and enjoying some quiet time. Then we walked back to the Inn, and sat in the beautiful lounge enjoying some champagne. We'd planned to take a caleche ride before dinner, but it was so hot they'd taken the horses off the roads. We were ok with that, being quite content to just relax and enjoy our drinks. We decided to saunter over to the Chateau for a proper pre-dinner cocktail.
Our very attentive concierge, however, let us know that the horses were back on the streets (it was after 6 PM), and so we did both - a horse and buggy ride around the old city, and then "Danny" dropped us off in front of the Chateau.
A Long Island Iced Tea and Negroni later, we stumbled down the big hill to dinner (did I mention the champagne? Actually, the stumbling was mostly high heels + steep hill + plantar fasciitis - lovely, I know).
Dinner at Toast! was amazing. We ordered the tasting menu and spend the next five hours amusing our bouches with the tastiest of tidbits, each of which came with a "matching" wine. The walk home may have been stumblier, but I was not aware of whether or not the cobbles hurt my heel-clad feet!
We spent the rest of the weekend touristing around the old city. Some highlights included:
- Our Inn, the Clos St. Louis, was perfect. Totally friendly, lovely, clean, good breakfast (a choice, and not too much food to tempt us into over-indulging too early in the day). They offered us the lounge for our ceremony if the weather was bad; luckily, we didn't have to take them up on it.
- Enjoying the drenching downpour from the comfort of the Café St. Malo - a cozy country-French restaurant where we ate on Saturday. It rained so hard the mice ran in and took shelter under our table. Also, the cassoulet was almost as good at McPie's.
- A Ghost Walk tour, which ended inside an unlit church at 10:30 PM - very spooky! It was the best way to get a real "feel" for the city's past.
- Going for a run on Sunday morning along the Dufferin Terrace, around the Citadel and Plains of Abraham. It's nice to conquer those fusty old icons of the history books with your sneakers.
- A picnic in Artillery Park, during which we watched a re-enactment of a 19th century military firing drill (completely coincidental). On the advice of the concierge, we visited J.A. Moisan, "the oldest grocery store in the city". It was a gourmet food/grocery store, and we got lots of yummies there, including chilled white wine which did not last long while we sat in the hot park.
It was hard to decide how to let the rest of the family and our close friends know. We didn't really want to put anyone on the spot by cold calling. So we made little announcements to send out, which we did last week, just before we went away to Nats. Apparently, there was a bit of a weekend rumour mill going, because the family in Ontario found out before the family in Nova Scotia (Mom! Sister!) See, even when you downplay everything as much as humanly possible, wedding drama is always unavoidable. Sigh.
We already felt like a family, which is why it made perfect sense to us to go all official. A quiet, private celebration felt the most suitable for us. We've been private, quiet, and celebratory all along. I didn't think it would be possible to feel like MORE of a family, but it already does. The happy surprises just don't stop around here.
If you want to see some photos, click the picture below... I'm hoping to upload more shots from the rest of the vacation soon.
[edit: I have no explanation for the strange spacing change in the body of this post. I've fiddled, and can't fix it. So be it.]
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
And we're off
Well, the kids are off to the cottage with their Moms; Neighbour Kid has been given remedial Findley-care training; cleats, gatorade and ibuprofen is packed; McPie is working on making sandwiches for the drive.
We're off to Nationals!
The competition this year will be stiff - it's a qualifying tournament for Worlds, which means the winner of each division gets to represent Canada at the World Championships in 2008. (I think it's an every-four-years thing.) For example, McPie's team is the defending Masters division champion, but there are twice as many teams in the competition than there were last year!
As for my team, CatFish - we are a wildcard team, seeded in last place (of 16 women's teams). We plan to play hard, stick together, score some points, and hope that this effort will let us beat our seed. We've never played a tournament all together, so the results should be at least interesting. Worth a good rant or rave, depending...
Full report next week! Plus the promised Quebec City rundown. It'll be fun - I promise!
We're off to Nationals!
The competition this year will be stiff - it's a qualifying tournament for Worlds, which means the winner of each division gets to represent Canada at the World Championships in 2008. (I think it's an every-four-years thing.) For example, McPie's team is the defending Masters division champion, but there are twice as many teams in the competition than there were last year!
As for my team, CatFish - we are a wildcard team, seeded in last place (of 16 women's teams). We plan to play hard, stick together, score some points, and hope that this effort will let us beat our seed. We've never played a tournament all together, so the results should be at least interesting. Worth a good rant or rave, depending...
Full report next week! Plus the promised Quebec City rundown. It'll be fun - I promise!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Turns out, it's not about the food
Our cat has his "issues". I shall not list them here, but the key items we deal with daily are his eating habits (fussy - how to keep him from starving to death) and his relentless attention. (The blood and vomit remain only secondary annoyances.)
We went away for the weekend - four nights actually. Not wanting to impose on the Moms and kids that much (it's a 15 minute drive to our place, and we always lean on them for this), we enlisted the Neighbour Kid (NK) to "care" for Findley while we were away.
It didn't go so well.
We were both worried, because experience has shown that NK isn't the brightest bulb. But Sweetie McPie talked to her mom, her older brother was going to help supervise, there were demos, etc.
Findley was stubborn, NK's wits failed her, and we came home to house full of open cat food cans, vomit and many, many house flies.
Findley, surprisingly, seemed kind of ok. But it soon became clear that despite not having eaten much over the days we were away, it was the fact that we were FINALLY HOME YOU G-D TRAITORS that solved all his problems. Once we arrived home, he slept for two days straight, and didn't open his mouth say boo when he woke up. My theory: lack of parentals causes him stress, causing him not to eat (or sleep), which causes NK to freak out and open every can of cat food in the house, leave them scattered about in 30 degree weather, requiring that we adult humans spend half an hour after midnight on the day of our homecoming killing two dozen (minimum) houseflies.
But oh, the peace and quiet. And the cuddles. Here is Findley, recovering from the trauma of parental betrayal:
Because I apparently can't shut up about my cat, the deets on our vacay in Quebec City must remain yet to come. But, preview: New shoes; and, aren't my feet looking much better?
Didn't McPie do a nice job on my toenails?
We went away for the weekend - four nights actually. Not wanting to impose on the Moms and kids that much (it's a 15 minute drive to our place, and we always lean on them for this), we enlisted the Neighbour Kid (NK) to "care" for Findley while we were away.
It didn't go so well.
We were both worried, because experience has shown that NK isn't the brightest bulb. But Sweetie McPie talked to her mom, her older brother was going to help supervise, there were demos, etc.
Findley was stubborn, NK's wits failed her, and we came home to house full of open cat food cans, vomit and many, many house flies.
Findley, surprisingly, seemed kind of ok. But it soon became clear that despite not having eaten much over the days we were away, it was the fact that we were FINALLY HOME YOU G-D TRAITORS that solved all his problems. Once we arrived home, he slept for two days straight, and didn't open his mouth say boo when he woke up. My theory: lack of parentals causes him stress, causing him not to eat (or sleep), which causes NK to freak out and open every can of cat food in the house, leave them scattered about in 30 degree weather, requiring that we adult humans spend half an hour after midnight on the day of our homecoming killing two dozen (minimum) houseflies.
But oh, the peace and quiet. And the cuddles. Here is Findley, recovering from the trauma of parental betrayal:
Because I apparently can't shut up about my cat, the deets on our vacay in Quebec City must remain yet to come. But, preview: New shoes; and, aren't my feet looking much better?
Didn't McPie do a nice job on my toenails?
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