playdate

Torito Tapas Time

It's always a bit daunting when you are invited to a big group gathering for dinner.
Who knows what kind of restaurant it is or how bad the food might be?
After-all, someone's idea of what a good restaurant is can be completely different from another's.
especially me- as picky & particular that I am.

So when we found out that we would be meeting at Torito In Kensington Market I was excited.
I love tapas, especially in a group situation and I hadn't been to this particular restaurant yet.

Righteous Rental Reco #1: Stranger than Fiction

Well, I don't know how much your life is like mine these days, but I don't get out much.  Juggling the schedules, and the resulting fatigue, of two small children is...tricky...to say the least.  More often than I would like, the husband and I find ourselves at home with a couple of hours to kill before we crash, and nothing to do.  (Well, of course we could do that, but what do we do with the 113 remaining minutes?...I kid, it takes MUCH longer than that - Hi Honey, I love you!)  Enter the Impromptu At-Home Date Night.  We order some delicious takeout food, and pop in a video.  Seeing as this is it for indulgence, though, we want to make sure that the movie is good.  I hate it when the movie's a dud, cause it puts such a damper on the festivities.  And we simply can't do that again..we're waaay too old...

TV Dinner

Daytime television has done wonders for my domestic life. No, not because Dr. Phil taught me how to require more of myself and watch out for people falling off of turnip trucks. It’s because I have discovered the joy of the Food Network.

Once upon a time the Food Network was only good for watching (the original) Iron Chef make ice cream out of eels and for some post-bong hit drool sessions. But these days, the Food Network actually inspires me. To cook, I mean.

Yellow

Hey! Do you remember paint-by-number kits? Retro, yes, but fun? I was in the dollar store and found a few this week. My kids jumped on them – they’ve finished them and in the interest of garnering more peace and quiet, I’ve turned to the internet. But then I made a delightful discovery - with the ease of good printers and a photo software program, you can turn anything into a paint by number. Watch this!

You could have written this...but you didn't

I'm totally jealous of Rebecca Eckler.

I think it's best to just put that right out there at the beginning, instead of pretending that I'm not jealous or that it's irrelevant to any kind of a review I write about her latest book Toddlers Gone Wild.

Because a lot of us are jealous of Rebecca Eckler, aren't we? Show me a parenting blogger who's looking for readers, who aspires to make a living from their writing - or better yet achieve fame and fortune from their writing - who claims not to be jealous of Rebecca Eckler and I'll show you a bold-faced liar.

Okay? Let's move along.

Rituals

Last week I was talking to some friends, and the topic of traditions came up.  Family traditions, and rituals.  I was asked, essentially, what family traditions we had when I was growing up.

And I came up blank.

Well, not completely blank.  We did go for Chinese food with the whole family on Sunday nights.  Some Sunday nights.  Certainly not ritualistically. 

And then I thought about my life now.  How I'm hesitant to embrace something that's ritualistic, often feeling like it becomes a burden.  I had never made this connection before, but it was a bit of a revelation for me.

Amateur, but not amateur-ish

I've been acting for twenty years now.  (Twenty.  Gah!  It galls me to admit that.  I feel  ancient.) Whenever someone asks me what I've done, though, I get all shy-like. You see, about 95% of my acting experience has been in community theatre.  Local theatre.  Amateur theatre.  Non-professional theatre. Call it what you will, people tend to back off like you've dropped a stinkbomb in their lap.

Community theatre used to be about a bunch of local yokels getting together and putting on a play.  They may or may not have had any theatrical experience.  They may have had a lot of heart, but very little skill, and almost no production values.  Well, times have changed, my friends.  Sure there are clunkers out there, I readily admit that.  I've seen some really bad shows.  I may have even been in one or two of them. There's a whole other side to community theatre, though, of which many people are not aware.

Tomato Soup - It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

I am not a morning person. I grudgingly do what I have to, but I often succumb to what Chris calls ‘Morning Rage,’ wherein anybody with half a brain and a yen not to be decked with a flying bagel stays out of my way until I have drank at least half of my coffee.

Coming by it honestly, my children do not seem to be morning children. I wish this meant that they were happy to slumber until 9 am, but unfortunately, it does not. What it means is that my 6-month old likes to poop at about 7 am, setting off a chain of events that inevitably wakes me, the cat, my 3-year old and then Chris, in that order. Now, I admit that I often send Chris downstairs with the (grumpy) children and (annoying) cat while I catch a few more winks, but twice a week we all have to scramble out of bed to get ready to take Bee to nursery school.

China's One Child Policy Leaves Families Childless Forever

Whenever I read about family-related news items from China, my mind always drifts to the one child policy that the government enforces to maintain some control over population growth.  With over one billion people in a land mass of fixed size with fixed natural resources, population maintenance is critical for the Chinese government.  However, there are often accusations of preferential treatment for the more affluent, leading to a question of how strictly this rule is applied.  Now, the cold reality of the one child policy has come to light, as many families have lost their only child in the recent earthquake, and, being past childbearing years, will have no more.

Mmmm... New Books...

Once in a while, when a busload of new stuff comes in, I take some time out of the day to read through it and see if there is new stuff to love. Sometimes, I'm not impressed by much, often there are a few new items I like, but once in a blue moon? There are a stack of new books I would gladly recommend, put out for display, or squirrel home to share with my daughter. This month was once of those times, and I am happy to be able to share a new trove of fresh finds with you. I will totally be bringing a few home to Pumpkinpie.