Row, Row, Row Your Boat

This past weekend I participated in a Row For Heart regatta. The regatta came at the end of eight weeks training (1 night a week). It was fun and challenging and I will miss the workout.

Hope you all had a wonderful week-end.

Bad To The Bone

I am a bad blogger lately. The truth is I have been kept fairly busy at nap time and night again dealing with my daughter who is teething. My mother likes to say that the teething excuse can be used from infancy to adult hood (what with wisdom teeth and all) so I am cashing in on it now.

So here is what I have been doing besides reading all of your blogs because I lack anything to write about in my own.

I downloaded a really cute sometime-in-the-future project to do for the kids from Anny Purls site called Buddy Bags.

We got rid of the old fridge we had been keeping from the early eighties realizing that it is the fashion trends you hold onto, not the appliances—who knew? The newer model is a couple years old in case, by some miracle, we find and move into a house we can leave our appliances for the new owners. It is must more efficient and doesn't heat the house like our old one.

I went to see a movie, alone, I have never done this before and found it oddly liberating. I didn't have to worry about getting two seats together, I got to sit in the very back row so no one could kick my seat, and I didn't have to wait for my husband before I butted into the queue leaving the theatre—I hate waiting in a slow moving queue when there is clearly enough room to manoeuvre around. The downside to this miraculous alone time came when the woman next to me, who I had only moments before been praising for helping me find my comfy seat, turned to her partner and said "If you have any questions during the moving just ask". What the? No, this is a movie! You know quiet please!, cell phones off! So for the whole movie she kept updating him on things during the film (even though he never asked once). Then she lamented about a group of girls who had giggled at a point in the movie "chatty lady" deemed inappropriate. Hello pot, it's the kettle calling...

I have been reading a few books. First, my guilty pleasure is the Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum series. I love a quick read in the summer it is better than watching t.v. and I share many of the main characters theories on food and happiness and also my hair does the same thing hers does when it is cut too short. Second, a great book by Adria Vasil called, Ecoholic. Third, I am reading the latest and final HP book. So whatever time is left in my day will now go to that. I can't imagine it will last longer than the week-end which is a relief because if I take any longer my 9 year old nephew will spoil the ending.

Well, better get back to my reading. This isn't going to do anything for my lack of energy of late, but it is too good to put down.

Thank you for missing me!

The Great Food Debate

My alternative title for this post is "Help—My Daughter Won't Eat Tomatoes, or Vegetables, or Drink Milk."



I am inspired by a lot of things and, even though I don't write about it a lot, I am passionate about food (not in a romantic way—although I could be convinced to marry chocolate if I weren't already committed to someone else). What I find challenging is making meals everyday, three times a day, for three other people. Not just because of the work load but, with kids especially, it isn't always easy to get everyone geared up about the same meal. I try to offer foods that get me excited to eat dinner. Items my three year old may not eat now served along with foods she is sure to eat with the hope that one day she may appreciate a variety of foods. Yesterday I was totally inspired by these Ontario grown heirloom tomatoes. The colours are amazing, and they made an awesome salad which I ate (Vic was golfing) while the kids ate grilled chicken sandwiches and, of course, feta cheese.



My salad (in case you all eat your vegetables) was made with red leaf lettuce, thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes, with crumbled feta cheese. I made an onion vinaigrette with red onion—finely chopped, 1 part white wine vinegar to 2 parts olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, some dried oregano—rubbed, a little honey, salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste. Ah, I almost feel like I travelled to Greece for dinner tonight.


My point in all of this is, when do children change from picky eaters (a.k.a. little dinner control freaks) to being a little more adventurous, try-it-just-once-before-saying-you-don't-like-it eaters?

Now I feel a little guilty for complaining. Daughter one does eat a lot of things other kids may not even touch, it isn't all bad. Still, what has she got against a cute, little, delictible tomato?

A Sock Is A Pocket for Your Toes

A Sock Is A Pocket for Your Toes is a very cute book the girls and I have been reading lately. I was inspired to start a pair of kiddie socks for the girls on two circular needles, thank you Sarah for the pattern. I have never knit socks before and the pattern is perfect for a beginner like me. I like using two circulars, there are only two visible seems, I think on dbl points I would have a ribbing pattern going on. The yarn is Ocean Wind Knits fingering in Ahoy colourway, daughter one loves blue. Daughter two will get a pair using the same yarn but in the shiraz colourway. It is a soft yarn that knits up well and the variegated pattern is really very subtle, very beautiful. I am loving it! If you check out her blog, Lori has knit two incredible shawls freshly knit.

Baby's Got Her Own Stash

I was at the LYS twice this week for circular needle buying, then exchanging. The first set were sharp at the join where cord meets needle, I am still not completely happy with the second set of Addi's because they have a bit of a noticeable join in the same spot. They don't snag the yarn so far, but the yarn does slow down when pulling it onto the needle part. Would you exchange them again if you were me?

While at the store my daughter adopted a sizable stash for her tender age. Sure the yarn is scratchy and completely un-wearable, but it is a pleasant looking purple and green stash complete with a miniature yarn basket. She is currently mastering the corking tool we bought. I envision many long cords sewn into pot holders, or necklaces. I thought it would be neat to use one cord as a flower and felt it to decorate my clutch—a collaborative effort between mother and daughter.

Hope you all enjoy a fun weekend.

Please Pass the KD

In honour of my country's 140 birthday I thought I would post some fun canadian factoids I found—some I knew, some I had no idea about—for my friends north and south of the border. Before I go upstairs to crank up the Avril Lavene, Michel Bublé and Feist while I wash the kitchen floors I want to say Happy Canada Day and Happy fourth of July too!

Canadians consume more Kraft Dinner per capita than any other nationality in the world. (I did not know that.)

Canada has more donut shops per-capita than any other country in the world. (So true, I think Hamilton must have one on every corner—I don't drink coffee though.)

More than 75% of the world's supply of maple syrup comes from Canada. (Yum! Where would the beloved pancake be without us?)

Myths about Canada:

Canadians all say "eh" and "aboot".
Sure, some of us do, but Canada is a big country with many different people who speak many different languages with different dialects.

Canada's national sport is Hockey.
Not completely true. While Hockey is very popular, and considered national pastime, our national sport is Lacrosse. Oh, and we invented Baseball too. ~ with regards to the baseball tidbit, it is a hotly contested fact. I did not make it up and I don't support or deny the claim. If you are a very confirmed baseball fan and want to pour over the opinions, I found a few sites that might be of interest to you but the Beachville, Ontario Museum is a short but sweet account of an earlier game than the Cooperstown game by Dr. Ford, with a woollen ball reference worth noting on knitting blog.

Canadians policemen are all Mounties dressed in red uniforms.
Our cops are the same as American cops. The Mounties usually only dress up in red for for special occasions.

Myths taken from Canadians.ca