Still brushing crumbs from my lap

I know you're not supposed to blog about what you had for lunch, but what I had for lunch today begs for an exception to this rule.

Chicken avocado sandwich with chili mayo on puff pastry "bread".

Intrigued, aren't you? My sister is visiting this week, so we're doing things a little more decadent. On the weekend, we were at my Dad's to celebrate his 60th birthday, and caught this little number on Giada at Home. (I don't have cable, so this "Food Network" business is novel to me.)

So, you grill (or fry in olive oil, in my case), some chicken breasts, and then let them cook, and slice them thinly. Roll out puff pastry and cut into bread-sized pieces (or a little smaller). Bake them pressed between two cookie sheets to keep them flat (I used parchment paper too). When the puff pastry has cooled, spread a slice with chili mayo (mayo with a sprinkle of chili powder and cayenne), top with avocado slices, chicken, baby spinach, and second slice of mayo'ed pastry. (We didn't double-decker ours like Giada did.) Consume with relish. The adjective, not the condiment.

Yum! They're not even as messy to eat as you'd think.

And now, I'm off to the gym. Because, seriously, a puff pastry sandwich?!

Ash Wednesday

I was raised Catholic. That sounds like a cliché, doesn't it? I'm not sure how else to say it though. From the time I was born, I went to church every Sunday, went to Sunday school until they opened a Catholic school in our district, wore a uniform to Catholic high school, was a lector in my parish church.

I personally didn't take it too seriously, but always felt respectful. For example, while I would never have considered myself a religious person, I tried my best to be thoughtful when studying for sacraments like confirmation. And I never questioned going to extra masses on special occasions like Holy Thursday, or Ash Wednesday. Eating pancakes on Pancake Tuesday was preceded by a talk by Mom about how this was a special treat to prep us for the time of hardship that we use to remember Jesus' sacrifice, etc.

Naturally, the adolescent years brought much skepticism, and though I kept going to church (enjoying the ritual, and the hour of weekly meditation, even if it tended more toward boys than saints), I gave up going to (and believing in) confession when I queried the priest on some detail about sins and he was totally unprepared to answer me. In university, I gave up going to church, except when visiting or being visited by my mother. I continued to cling to the idea that I was still Catholic in a general sense -- mainly by not openly rejecting the idea of it, even though I totally disagreed with many of the well-known (ie: politicized) tenets, such as the abortion, gay rights, etc.

One of the things that used to really bug me was the idea of giving things up for Lent. As children, we did it in a simplified way -- candy, TV, meat on Fridays, etc. But when I grew older, I began to question what this meant, really, and how it was supposed to affect me as a person. I tried to focus on the idea of giving things up as imposing hardship... But giving up petty material things seemed too trivial to matter. And the priests giving the sermons would always talk about giving up coffee and trying to tie that to Jesus' suffering. How trite. It made much more sense to me that if we were trying to use the Lenten period to learn something -- like, assimilate Jesus' sacrifice which ultimately (according to the church) saved us all, wouldn't it be better to DO SOMETHING, rather than not do something? Like, do something that was a hardship, that made a difference in the world? Wouldn't Lent be the perfect time to volunteer to shovel the elderly neighbour's driveway, canvas for UNICEF, or volunteer in a soup kitchen? But nobody ever talked about that, and I gave up recognizing Lent, the way I'd given up on confession. Cafeteria Catholic, right?

In my mid-twenties, I traveled to Israel with my mom and sister on a sort of Catholic pilgrimage... We used the New Testament as a sort of tour guide, starting in Nazareth and ending in Jerusalem carrying a cross along the Via Dolorosa. I'm sure that sounds cheesy, but it was a pretty cool experience, and I viewed it as a sort of test of faith. What I came home with was an appreciation the history of the events, a context for my "faith"... and a realization that I didn't really believe in Catholicism as a spiritual reference, religion as a guiding institution, or Jesus as the "actual" saviour.

I do enjoy attending Mass occasionally with my mom on special occasions -- it's a soothing and comfortable ritual. But, I can no longer say that I am Catholic. Or Christian. Or Anything. And I forgot to make pancakes last night. (We had spaghetti and meatballs.)

But I like the idea of Karma, and making other people feel good by trying to be a decent person.

My life in jots and dashes

- I am not a fan of the single lifestyle. Sweetie McPie left for China before the crack of dawn on Saturday morning, and the kids have been with their Mom since Monday. Days are fine -- I'm used to being alone, and have a decent routine. But at night! I'm at a loss. I watched The Bachelor, and then American Idol! (Under any other circumstances, I would've preferred to spend those hours sticking pins in my eyes...)

- As a singleton, I've been eating dinners like pita pizza and tuna melts. Good, but I'm looking forward to cooking pork chops and broccoli for my family!

- I've been sleeping well. I've confiscated McPie's pillow and now sleep with four pillows (including a kings-sized body pillow) surrounding me in a nest, and it's working! I've been able to coordinate rolling over with getting up to pee, and that means only 2-3 wake-ups during the night. Relative heaven.

- With McPie away, I've rediscovered a measure of external sociability. I hosted book club on Friday, and had friends over for supper on Saturday and Sunday nights (the kids love when we have company. Ben says that having lots of visitors is great because it means people like us. Very important to him.) Lunch yesterday with some ex-coworker now-blog pals was lovely and too-short and satisfied my craving for Indian food. I've been really enjoying reconnecting with friends.

- Afterward, I got plenty of errands done, including picking up more supplies on our "Getting Ready for Your Home Birth" list. I'm feeling prepared. And also, excited!

- Aforementioned Indian food (or the errand-running) led to an evening spent with Monsieur Braxton Hicks. I find these contractions quite interesting -- they are not uncomfortable, but make moving around pretty awkward. Although I've been feeling them pretty regularly since about 20 weeks, at this stage I find them encouraging: training for the big show! Like squats for the uterus. :-)

- I've been knitting. Finished a second wool soaker, and I'm actually working on the trim for my baby blanket. (Pictures to come when I get some batteries for camera.)

- Would like to draw your attention to the best almost-but-not-quite-homemade cookies ever. I treat myself to one each time I go to the market on the bus (from the Natural Food Pantry), and today I picked one up from my local health food store. I'm looking forward to enjoying it for dessert tonight. The chocolate pudding I baked for supper on Sunday night is sadly all gone. (Consumed almost entirely by moi. Yum.)

- We are heading to Huntsville on Friday to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. Go Tim! We'll be bringing my sister back with us on Sunday -- she's staying with us for more than a week! Belly-competition picture-taking may ensue...

- I get kids AND husband back tomorrow night. Yay!

Are we that bored as a society?

For the last two days, the Environment Canada website has been showing, in bright red across the top of the local forecast page: "RAINFALL WARNING IN EFFECT".

Rainfall warning? Are you kidding me?

McPie and I play this fun game where we bitch and moan about how ridiculous it is that "weather events" seem to be headlines news so regularly now (and I don't mean tsunamis and volcanoes wiping out towns, but you know, 4 inches of snow expected overnight). We can't help but think that this "rainfall warning" is a joking response to our scorn, you know, like Environment Canada is in on the joke... But I have a feeling that EC is earnest. Federal government and all. So, anyone have any crazy "oh my god, and then it started raining!" stories?

Also, I am experiencing an uncomfortable amount of random puffiness -- especially in my hands, the only place where my relaxin-addled joints are aching, and occasionally my eyes puff up like I haven't slept in a week, it's really attractive -- and strong cravings for nacho chips. I can't in good faith blame this craving on pregnancy, however, since it's pretty much the one food that makes me -- in any stage of health or fertility -- lose my mind and willpower. Especially the multigrain kind. I have no reasonable explanation for this. I am glad to report that we have none in the house, so I'm safe. For now.

Good times, good news

Ah, what a weekend. We totally lucked into an opportunity to spend the weekend at a fabulous "cabin" in the woods. (ie: beautiful large log cottage). Parents of a pre-school friend of Ben's generously offered to let us use their cottage on Lac Ste-Marie. We would normally be too shy to take anyone up on such an offer, but Ben has specifically asked for -- as a birthday present -- a weekend at a hotel with ALL of us (all the parents and kids). It was the one thing he really, really wanted and kept mentioning. None of us felt we could afford it at this time, and then the cottage fell into our lap (coincidentally ON Ben's birthday, when the parents dropped the friend off for the party, and mentioned spending the Christmas holidays at their cottage.)

Anyway. Less than an hour and a half away. Spacious, cozy, well-equipped log house in the woods with a tubing hill on site. The six of us headed up on Friday and arrived in time to enjoy a cheese fondue dinner (and chocolate fondue dessert, naturally!). It was wonderful. Fun-loving Maman and Dad tired the kidlets out on the tubing hill, while the slightly lazier stepmoms (me and Lilly) got a lot knitting done. I can't wait to post a picture of my latest wool soaker -- I'm doing it double-thick with a gorgeous sea-green Cascade wool (9461). We are so out of camera batteries though...

So, totally relaxing, fun weekend, with lots of good food and conversation. It's actually the first time the six of us have gone away and spent a weekend together (other than Christmas last year, but that was mediated by a million other people), and it was wonderful. Easy breezy. Children are outnumbered by parents 2:1, so there's always back-up, and always time and space for adult time.

And! Both moms examined me in a midwifely way -- that is, they took turns palpating my burgeoning belly -- and confirmed that the Young Fella is in fact in the perfect position. (I swear he flipped around on the very day that my midwife told me he was sidewise.) That little lump by my ribs on the right side is FEET (not a head), and the other lump on the left side of my belly button is BUM! And the rumbling down by my left hip flexor is SHOULDER! And HEAD! (Not feet.) And he's the "perfect size" (so far)... Which means, not too big.

They did disagree on the topic of stretchmarks though. Celine says they can suddenly happen in the last week; Lilly said if I don't have them by now, I'm good to go. I really want to side with my knitting partner on this one, but will keep an open-mind. :-)

Anything can change in the next six or seven weeks, but it's a great place to start.

Sleepwalker started it

And Vicki made it a challenge. So here are 25 random things about me:

1. I'm shy, not snobby. (In case you mistook the averted gaze.)
2. I always thought I was too shy to ever be able to play a team sport.
3. But learning to play frisbee changed my life for the better.
4. I've played frisbee at Nationals four out of the past five years.
5. Joining a family with children changed my life for the better.
6. My stepkids are the cutest, smartest kids ever.
7. I broke my nose in a terrible shower accident.
8. I coached (really little children) skating when I was 13.
9. I love heavy squats.
10. I'm learning to love heavy presses.
11. I'm a relatively tall person, but am still 5 inches shorter than my little sister.
12. I would let my mom live with us if she wanted to.
13. I'm not allergic to anything.
14. I have found the secret to uber-juicy hamburgers, and it is oatmeal.
15. I could spend all day every day reading.
16. I can't read with music playing.
17. I never need time away from my husband. Not even a minute.
18. I enjoy knitting, but I have trouble committing to projects.
19. I used to work as a patient simulator for medical students.
20. I also worked as the snack bar girl in a bingo hall.
21. I got hired at McDonalds (after the bingo hall), but quit after one training session.
22. I've never had long hair.
23. I hate dusting, and almost never do it.
24. I need to start speaking French, but don't know how to begin. (See #1.)
25. I've just added "Paris" to my places to visit list.

Do your own; it's kind of fun.