playdate

There's Nothing on TV!

Oh. My. Gawd.  I just looked at the calendar and it's almost August!  Can you believe it?  Where has the summer gone??  It seems like it's just flown by.  Maybe it's all the rain we've been getting, but it feels somehow like it's still spring.  The only thing that has truly marked the passage of time for me is that we are slowly running out of TV shows to watch.  Yes, yes.  Of course, summer is the time for getting outside, enjoying the warm breezes and sunny skies.  Yada, yada yada.  Let's face it, though, I am the mother of two small children who (God willing and the crick don't rise) are both asleep by 8:30pm.  I could read.  But generally, I'm too tired to focus and am looking for something a little gentler on the ole brain.  I likes me some vegging out time in front of the tube.

Which brings me to the only sane solution for discerning TV viewers (like myself, ahem)...TV on DVD. 

Brunch: It's Not Just for Pretentious Childless Hipsters Anymore

I’m not one to bitch and moan about the things I’ve given up since becoming a parent, but there are a few things from my pre-baby days that I do sometimes pine for. Sleeping in until whenever I feel like getting up is one of those things. So is actually doing something spontaneously. Hell, there was a time when I didn’t really mean it when I would say that I was too tired for sex. We used to go out for brunch.

Of all of those things (and the few more I could name if I really thought about it, like not having an ass that was big enough for it’s own postal code), I may just miss going out for brunch the most. I have always loved going out for brunch.

During university, brunch was the chance my friends and I had to dissect the previous evening’s adventures, and to sop up the previous evening’s alcohol. Once I was with Chris, it morphed into a more sophisticated urban tradition among all of my sophisticated, urban friends. (As well as an opportunity to sop up the previous evening’s alcohol.)

Shaken, Not Stirred

Daniel Craig will soon be back as 007. The 22nd James Bond film Quantum of Solace will open in theatres on November 7th.

For the first time in Bond history, the theme song will be a duet! Alicia Keys and the White Stripes' Jack White have recorded the song "Another Way To Die."

Amy Winehouse was rumoured to be considered for this gig however she has been way too busy to do this side project.

Dine Out, Eat Local

The movement for eating local is gaining momentum in the hospitality industry, which is great news for us here at BlogHers ACT Canada, where July's focus is on eating locally. 

There are a lot of restaurants making use of local, in-season crops in preparation of daily specials and regular seasonal menu items.  Like me, you may be wondering how to find these restaurants. 

Continue reading "Dine out, eat local." »

The movement for eating local is gaining momentum in the hospitality industry, which is great news for us here at BlogHers ACT Canada, where July's focus is on eating locally. 

There are a lot of restaurants making use of local, in-season crops in preparation of daily specials and regular seasonal menu items.  Like me, you may be wondering how to find these restaurants. 

Pumpkinpie's Picks for July

Some months, I am loving everything we are reading, other months, the requests are not what I would pick. Still, I believe in letting Pumpkinpie choose her own bedtime material. Reading time, after all, should be fun and enjoyable for children - it's not really teaching time or good-for-you time, though it is indeed good for them. In fact, it's best for them if they do enjoy it, and by the time you are into toddler and preschool territory, enjoying it goes hand in hand with having some say in it, as we all know only too well. The thing of it is, it's worth enduring a few clunkers and letting them steer a bit, since their enjoyment is a key part of the preliteracy skill we refer to as "print motivation," or simply put, the desire to pick up a book.

So yes, even professional story ladies sometimes put up with some books that feed into their children's interests rather than our own sense of quality literature. This month was like that. I've only been loving about half of her picks. Perhaps next month will be better...

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in (Tom Goes to) Kindergarten

The other morning it was really muggy out, and the forecast called for thunder-showers, so I decided to bundle the kids into the stroller and go to our local library. 

Our regular routine is that we sit around and read books for a while, and then my three-year-old chooses five books to take home with us - either from the ones we've read, or new ones from the shelf.  I try to help by finding books that I think might appeal to him, but generally I let him choose on his own, and then quickly rifle through it to make sure it's age and length appropriate.

Little did I know that this simple, seemingly innocuous act, would result in my imminent upbraiding.

Relaaaaaaaax

You’re leaning back in a Muskoka chair, which is perched on the end of a well-trod dock. The sun has passed it’s highest point in the sky, and is following an arc to the water’s edge, it’s reflection having already made the journey. Your body is soaked in warmth, and you put your hand down beside you to reach for a cold beer. You bring it slowly to your lips, and –

‘Mama? Mama! Where are you! Mama, I pooped!’

You open your eyes and realize that you are not at the cottage, as you had dreamed, but are sitting on your front porch, and your kid has totally harshed your daydream buzz. a weed-choked lawn is sitting where a cool Northern lake is supposed to be, and that beer you thought you just picked up? Your toddler’s bubbles. Bummer.

#8 -- T3 Tourmaline Ceramic Barrel Brush

Addictine mentioned her shopulemic sister a few weeks ago. Said sister is the clever shopper, maximizing points cards, doing online surveys to get discounts and the like. Perhaps her most brilliant shopping scheme is subsidizing her habit by checking parcels at Holt Renfrew each Christmas.

Addictine benefits from this brilliance each year under the tree. This year I received a lovely Cole Haan tote and a T3 Tourmaline round brush. The brush, coupled with ceramic/ionic blow dryer technology, has cut my hair drying time in half.

Another trashy treasure

In the same sale, I found a couple of paintings. A small watercolour, and a framed oil. I paid a dollar for both.

But in the clear light coming through my windows, it looked....dirty. Yellowed. Time for some elbow grease!

I consulted Google, who pretty much shrieked 'NOOOOO! DON'T DOOO IT! DOOOM!' so I backed away, abashed, but then....I rethought.

This wasn't an heirloom. This wasn't the old painting Great-Aunt Myrtle did the summer before she went insane and offed Uncle Norbert, and this wasn't anything I was going to mourn if it was lost.

Diva gone wild: a hair story

My husband begged me not to fall back into old habits.

"You're better than that now," he said. "You're worth more than that. We may not be rich, but we've come a long way since those days".

But I missed the excitement of it, you know? The thrill. I missed just being young and adventurous and not caring about long-term results or consequences. Truth be told, I craved the excitement of something just a little bit dangerous.

And so, the night before I was due to leave for the BlogHer conference in San Fransisco, I threw caution to the wind and I did it.

I dyed my own hair.