The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff

watch the video, get educated, stop buying useless stuff

Three birds with one stone.

As we speak, I have garlic scape pesto freezing in the freezer, ready for a quick pasta at a moments notice, I have chicken and garlic scapes stir frying away on the stove, and a chicken carcass boiling in a stock pot reducing itself into chicken stock for soup. I love multi-tasking, especially when I can get three meals cooked in two hours. It means that tomorrow, dinnertime won't be as chaotic as it usually is. And I love it when Ethan learns new things. With regards to the meals I'm cooking today, it means that Ethan learns that chickens don't really come pre-cut and wrapped in cellophane from the grocery store, but rather it has skin and bones, and hey, we can use that part of the chicken to make soup. He even learns that we can make a tasty pasta sauce from something that looks kinda silly. As Ethan would say "huh, interesting!"

A funny thing happened on the way to the bookstore

It is with embarrassment that I inform you I have failed my goal to not buy any more books until I had read all the books on my bookshelves. And I have Amy Garner to blame. Yes, Amy, I blame you. You, you high school graduate, you had to have a party to celebrate your successes, and I couldn't show up empty handed, Nooo... so I bought you a book. A very fitting book by Michael J Fox called a funny thing happened on the way to the future. Well, of course they were having a sale, and I happened to pass by the new Yann Martel, and an intriguing book by Paolo Giordano, and of course the sale was buy 3 and get the 4th free. Yes, you guessed it. I bought one more.

If you would just listen

I took Rueben for his (really late) 12 month immunization shot this past week. He's almost 18 months old now, so he was long overdue. While in the office, the nurse administering the shots had a few questions for me concerning his development... does he let me brush his teeth, does he 'help' to put his clothes on (putting his arms up, lifting his legs...), can he crouch to pick up a toy without falling over... check, check, check. Then she asked me if he could say 5 words meaningfully, but not necessarily properly pronounced. I though for a minute, and sighed as I realised Rueben wasn't saying any words meaningfully. Ethan was with us in the office and she asked if he has a word for Ethan... nope. "Can you point to a picture in a book and elicit a response?"... no. Then I got bombarded with a barrage of pamphlets and papers on speech and hearing clinics. How can my child have speech problems when I can use alliteration and fancy words like bombard and barrage and his 4(ish) year old brother says things like "that's very interesting". I mean, really?

The heat we've been having these past few days has been driving me crazy. I'm normally a hot person anyway, so for me, these temperatures are verging on unbearable. So in a moment of brilliance, I scooped up the boys and we piled into the air conditioned truck for a quick visit to Starbucks. All of a sudden, as we're driving along, I hear from the backseat "puh-peh", just as we're driving past the Clayton off leash dog park. He said a word! He said a word.... wait, I think I've heard him say those sounds before. He likes to throw things out the (low) kitchen window onto the balcony which happens to look out into the backyard, and I've seen him standing there saying puhpeh puhpeh. Why have I never realised the connection between those sounds and the two little yappy dogs who belong to our new basement tenants? Why have I been so literal in my thinking that 'words' need to be words. Of course Rueben talks... he says 'gha oo' when I give him a cup of milk, he says 'boom' when he falls down, he says 'ahmee' when he looks for my bellybutton.

I guess I just need to change my thinking about talking. And maybe I need to listen a little more intently to Rueben's sweet nothings.

Vampire Weekend on Q TV

I took the boys for a drive the other day just to get out of the house and explore south Langley a bit. My radio was tunned to CBC radio one and Jian Ghomeshi's progam 'Q' was re-broadcasting a studio set and interview with a band called Vampire Weekend. I fell in love with the catchy melodies, boppy pace and international flare of the band and music. When we got home, I straightaway youtubed and googled and now I'm in love. It's always a delight to discover music that makes you smile, dance, or connect with in some way and it seems I'm way behind the times in terms of this particular band. How had I not found them sooner?

On another musical note, I picked up the latest Sarah Harmer disc and I'm glad to say that she is better than ever - returning to her folk rock roots and leaving the country in the country. If you love her classics like 'basement appartment' and 'uniform gray', then you'll love this new disc. Go out and get it.

Here are two songs off Sarah's new album.