Walk this way

I'd forgotten how much it rains in Vancouver.  When people ask what's the one thing I miss most about living in Fort st John, my reply is the weather.  While it's true that I don't miss the -35 degrees of winter, I do miss the beautiful clear blue skies.  It never rained for days on end like it does down in Vancouver.  It never socked in, clouded over and rained and rained and rained.  Walking Lilly was no problem at all with endless numbered days of clear skies.  

So what's a gal to do?  While I'm all for getting daily exersize, I'm not really prepared to drag my two boys around in a plastic covered double stroller while my dog slowly begins to resembles a drowned rat.  Hello... Wet dog is not a desirable home fragrance.  Enter: Treadmill.  Yes, I get just as many strange looks when I tell people I exersize my dog on the treadmill as I do with the weather response.  But hey, it works for us.  Lilly actually loves the treadmill.  She'll hop on it and look at me as if to say 'ok, mom, time for my walk!'

So unless someone can find a way to stop the rain, I'm gonna keep up with the unconventional parenting.  If only I can find a way to keep Rueben from eating the dog kibble...

bad blogger! BAD Blogger!

I really thought I would hit the ground running with this whole blog thing.  I have so many instances throughout the day where I hear a poignant saying or something funny or silly or blog worthy happens and I think to myself "this would make for a good blog post."  But for some reason I never make the transition from 'kernel of thought' to 'published blogpost'.  I could blame it on the fact that I've got two kids under age four and have been single mom-ing it since Christmas, but that's not really fair.  If I can find time to take a weekly bhangra dance class, surely I can find 15 minutes a day to send some words into webspace.  

So, here I am with renewed spirits.

Baking Fiascos of 2009

This time last year, Andrew and I were indulging in delicious goodies from a Christmas cookie swap organized by a friend in Fort st John.  It was so simple.  15 people were involved so all I had to do was bake 15 dozen of one kind of cookie.  Then we all got together and swaped a dozen for a dozen.  We came away with bars, balls and cookies of all kinds.  

This year, I gotta say, I am really missing the cookie swap.  So I figured how hard could it be to become Martha Stewart for a day and do all my own Christmas baking?  Well... For those of you who are attempting this impossible feat, I offer you some tips - the result of my own baking misadventures.

1.  Read the recipe before you start.
  It sounds so simple but it helps you to avoid uttering things like " I guess we'll just omit cream of tartar.  I know we don't have it cause I don't even know what it is..." and "what?? The dough has to rest in the fridge for SIX HOURS?? Crap!".

2.  Have all your tools at the ready.
  Kate has just finished assembling all the ingredients and is ready to bake.  Now, picture this phone call:
Kate "hi mom, it's kate."
Josette "Hi.  How are you?"
Kate "I'm fine.  I'm just doing some Christmas baking."
Josette "oh yeah?  How's it going?"
Kate "um... Fine... Can I borrow your baking sheets?  Mine are still in Fort st John..."
Josette "Oh, Kate!"

3.  Don't trust a picture.
  After flipping through my books, I settled on baking some 'sugar cookie jam rollups'.  They looked so good in the picture, and looked easy enough to assemble.  Well... The dough was so crumbly that it didn't roll up very nicely, or slice very nicely, or bake very nicely, or taste very nicely...

4.  Keep cooling cookies out of kid reach.
  You won't think you're hallucinating when you walk into the kitchen and find an empty cooling rack.  "I was SURE I put a dozen cookies there to cool..."

 

Long time no blog

Wow, it has been a while since I last checked in on the daisee chain.  Let's see... What's new... Ah, yes.  We bought a house! We moved into the house.  We unpacked a couple of boxes and now we're living in a messy half unpacked house.  The frustrating part is realizing that we afe sorely lacking in furniture so I can't fully unpack cause I have nowhere to put anything.  The fun part though is that I get to go furniture shopping and can begin to dream about what my house could possibly look like.  I hope I can realize its fullest potential.

The best room in the house is my library.  Yes, people made fun of me for calling it a library.  A glorified den, they would say.  But now that the bookshelves are up spanning the entire length of the wall and my beauties are standing at categorical alphabetical attention, it most definitely is a library.

All fired up

Although I do enjoy watching 'So you think you can dance' and 'Project Runway' (because they appeal to my artistic sensibilities and my dashed dreams of being a professional dancing seamstress) I think it's fair to say that I'm not really a huge fan of reality tv or game shows.  I never got addicted to Survivor the way my college friends did or The Real Housewives of wherever but I am familiar with The Donald and his famous two and a half words: "You're Fired!".  I always thought how terrible it must have felt to have to tell people week after week that they were inadequate and useless in their vocation.

That is, until I got to utter those two and a half little words myself.  I'm not gonna lie.  It felt really good!

Allow me to explain.  I've been house hunting for the past two months and it has been so frustrating on account of the lousy realtor that I've been working with.  Our first encounter should have sent me running in the opposite direction.  Had I known it was all going to be downhill from there, I would have run.  But I didn't.  I was trying to be optimistic, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.  In the end, I just couldn't take it anymore.  

"LADY, YOU'RE FIRED!"

Well, not exactly in those words, but it was satisfying nonetheless.  I'm just glad she didn't answer her phone and I could fire her via voicemail.  I think she finally got the message.

There's no place like home

After a 12 hour delay in Paris which landed us in a double suite at the Radisson hotel for the night and a complementary meal, we have finally arrived in Vancouver. We are all tired, hungry, and a bit cranky, but are happy to be home. I have kept a travel journal while away and plan to update the blog with excerpts and photos from each day of our European adventure. We had a really great time and I can't wait to share it with you guys, but for now, sleep is calling.

Kate is Happy

I'm happy for several reasons. First, we leave for Europe in 4 days! But yikes, am I behind on packing. I've discovered it's difficult to live out of a suitcase while trying to pack one. I'm sure I'll get a handle on everything. Probably best to conquer packing while the little ones are asleep.

I'm also happy because I spent a lovely day with 'Grandpa' today. Andy and the boys and I met for a park date which turned into lunch at Boston Pizza, then back to the park, and then dinner at the condo. We had herbed baked chicken with lemon dill squash and nonya seasoned stirfry veggies. Ethan is playing cars with Andy on the kitchen floor and after this post I'm going to put Rueben to bed. What a fun day.

I'm also very happy because we have been given good news about our mortgage situation. The gist of it is that we can afford more than what we thought we could. So now we're house hunting for an actual house, with a basement suit, garage and fenced yard. Things are looking up.

Busy busy busy

Well, if you haven't guessed from the title of this post, we've been busy. I've been house hunting, getting ready for a month long European vacation, catching up with friends and family and partying at a wedding and all the while living out of a suitcase/cardboard box!

Big news on the Rueben front... "he has a big meggie!" as papa would say. The Canadian translation is that he has his first tooth! He's also on the cusp of crawling. He can bear his weight on his knees and elbows but just seems to plow his forhead into the floor. He's discovered though that in the all fours position he can rock himself back and forth. It's very neat to see because Ethan never really mastered the art of crawling.

Time to put the cranky ones to bed.

The House hunt is on

I can't tell you what a thrill it was to be driving over the Port Mann Bridge at the break of dawn and thinking to myself "I'm home"! The boys and I left Fort St John at 10:30am and stopped just North of Hope at the lake of the woods rest stop at 1am. I unbuckled Ethan from his carseat cause I didn't think it fair that he should sleep sitting upright and I awoke at 5:30 to find him sprawled across my chest. We left Hope giddy with the thought that we would soon be rolling into the lowermainland. Smog and traffic congestion never looked so lovely, especially in the early morning sun. I litterally got goosebumps as we drove down Johnson hill, over the bridge and into Port Coquitlam. We spent the morning and early afternoon with Sylvia and Doug, and I'm glad we did cause they were planning to leave the next morning for a few weeks in California.

I've seen a few places already. Of them all, only one is really worth our time. I'm hoping we find something that we fall in love with. Our purchase in Fort St John just seemed meant to be. We weren't even looking and then one day while walking Lilly, I saw this house that met all of our criteria. Everything just fell into place, so I'm hoping the same thing happens down here for us too.

I'll keep you all posted on the progress.

I don't think I have enough bubble wrap!