according.to.kim

PI 30/52: Hands on

A quick little shoot for this week's prompt.

We have much going on these days: work (intensely busy right now), housework, BSS work, school forms and fundraising, childcare (as in, Neil providing it), dog sitting, kids' activities (ringette camp, dance, piano, cross country), monthly photo tasks, Rams and Rider games, appointments, gathering supplies for Crop & Create Saskatoon... It's all good, but yes, rather tiring! And many things don't get done. C'est la vie.

I need an escape from the flurry once in awhile. Over the past week, Neil and I have watched the finale of Hell's Kitchen and a few videos from the Food & Culture Photography course we purchased. Love it!

I've been incredibly lucky lately! Yesterday, I won (via StacyMolter.com) a seat in Spawn of True Scrap -- which is a big prize! And in August, I won (via Lisa Truesdell's blog) the beautiful Boardwalk kit from Studio Calico. I haven't used it yet, but looking forward to it.

PLUS, I received a Smash Book and accessories for my birthday! I'm so excited to use it! I was very surprised when I received it in the mail. Thanks again, Shauna, Laurel and families! I will start smashing things in it tomorrow. :)

White on white

It seems I don't have many white things around here, so I looked to my scrapbooking supplies. This was a tough shot! I found it very difficult to get the exposure right. After taking a bunch of pictures that were much too dark, I was forced to re-learn how to change the exposure bias on my camera. I hadn't done that for a very long time. Now that I remember how to do this, it might come in handy!

I took this morning as a half-day vacation, and it was awesome! I was so tired last night that I didn't get up again after reading a book to Madeline. As a result, I practically sprang out of bed at 5:30 a.m. which maximized my time at home. I was able to check a bunch of things off my to-do list. One of the things I'm very happy to have finished today is planting the garden. I planted a couple perennials and 10 pepper plants morning, Neil and the kids planted seeds in the garden after school, and when I got home from work, I helped Madeline plant her seeds (12 different seeds from a school project) into pots. Just in time for another inch of rain.

Also, Neil took our broken couch and broken blinds to the dump this afternoon. I'm so glad they're outta here! The kids keep asking what they're going to sit on. I honestly don't know. The ultimate furnishing would be something unbreakable, that dog hair can't stick to, that won't stain or soak up spills, and with no crevices where stuff can get trapped. I have no plans to get another sofa anytime soon. (Laurel suggested bean bag chairs, and I like that idea if I can find the right ones.)

This evening, I attended the kindergarten orientation for parents. The numbers are huge this year. With just a few more registrations, they may have to add a fourth kindergarten class. Also, the school principal delivered the entire orientation because none of the kindergarten teachers are here yet (one is coming from Switzerland). After the girls were in bed and Neil finished watching the hockey game, we watched Top Chef Canada. I can't wait to see it each week!

PI 10/52: Dishing it out

Bonne Maman jam-jars-turned-drinking-glasses. I started saving these jars to use as drinking glasses when someone mentioned doing this in one of my Picture classes last year. They're great everyday glasses for us -- a nice size and easily replaced if broken (which has happened). I like 'em!

***

The past week has been eventful with a few significant news events, plus a few things more specific to my family. I've been wanting to post something all week but these days have been too full! (I'm off work this afternoon. Yay!)

Friday: The Royal Wedding of Will and Kate. Until about two days before the wedding, I was quite oblivious. It was so far off my radar, I probably would have had trouble saying who was getting married! Then I must have read a blog or something that made me realize it was kind of a big deal: these two will become king and queen someday, right? So I decided to pay more attention and tell my girls about the royal wedding. They had no idea. We didn't watch it live, but later Friday morning, watched some of the rebroadcast on YouTube. I had asked Neil to record it on the PVR, which he did, but we didn't bother watching it on the TV. It turns out The Royal Channel on YouTube is great for seeing the highlights! When I left for my haircut appointment on Friday morning, the girls and Georgia's friend, Henry, were watching the rebroadcast on YouTube (which you couldn't fast forward). Waiting for the balcony scene, Georgia kept saying, "When are they gonna smooch? When are they gonna smoooooch?!"

Saturday: Dinner at our friends' home. Great food and great company! And our kids and dogs play together so well. We will definitely have them over to our house for dinner sometime -- but in the summer when we can eat outside. Our dining room is not very good for entertaining.

Sunday: The end of Osama Bin Laden. I was snoozing (after laying down with Madeline) when Neil woke me to tell me the news. The first and only thing I did was check Twitter. I've discovered recently that I much prefer to see how people are reacting to news over seeing or hearing the news in other media. It has been almost ten years since we first heard that name. It's good to know the bad guys can't hide forever.

Monday: Canada's federal election. I will not "talk politics." It's not in me. But I will say, I was more interested than usual due to the surprising results: the Conservatives won a majority, the NDP became the official opposition for the first time ever, the Liberals had their worst showing ever (I think), the BQ was practically decimated (save 4 seats), and the Green party won their first elected seat. Crazy times, people. I was quite glued to my Twitter and Facebook streams along side the real-time results on CBC.ca.

Tuesday: Top Chef Canada. (Ha ha, totally not a big deal, but I thought I'd fill in the week!) Neil and I watched it after the hockey game. I love the Top Chef series, and this Canadian version is getting better as it moves along and people are knocked out. I tend to prefer the latter half of all seasons -- except Top Chef All Stars, which I thought was great all the way through.

Wednesday: The Book of Even More Awesome book signing. I love The Book of Awesome. It makes me smile and laugh out loud and that's why I decided to go see the author, Neil Pasricha, at Chapters on Wednesday evening. Georgia came with me (while Neil took Madeline to her piano lesson and Sophia was in Avonlea). I bought the new book when we got there so I could get both signed. I really enjoyed his short talk. He went into his background a little and the reasons why he started the blog, 1000 Awesome Things (these are covered in his excellent TED Talk: The 3 A's of awesome -- watch this if you haven't already!). He also shared a bit of his recent experience in NYC where he appeared on The Today Show the day before. I'm very glad we went. Plus, we saw a rainbow on the way -- which is always awesome, don't you think? And (if you're reading) it was great to see you there, Tein!

Thursday: Teachers' job action. There was no school yesterday due to the teachers' one-day strike. We're lucky it didn't inconvenience us at all since Neil stays home with the kids, and it turned out to be quite a fun day for the girls. Sophia and Bronwyn were in Avonlea at their grandparents' house. Madeline and Georgia were home with Neil. They trimmed the hedges in our front yard (okay, maybe not fun for them, but I'm glad it's done!), went to Costco, and then Madeline and Georgia went for a playdate at the home of one of M's classmates who lives nearby.

Thursday: Natural gas leak. SaskEnergy located a natural gas leak in the back alley directly behind our yard. EEK. Well, they found it and fixed it without incident, so that's good! This would not be so disconcerting if it weren't for some recent explosions in our city. Very strange.

And, oh, wasn't it beautiful outside last evening?! I spent an hour in the back yard doing some after-winter clean up. We have a new neighbour on the west side who is always out in her yard doing this and that. It's, uh, rather motivating -- she can see our yard through the fence and it ain't pretty!

My 40th birthday celebrations

I really enjoyed my birthday week!

Mom planned a birthday party for me which took place in Yellow Grass on Sunday. I love that all of my hometown family members were there -- Mom and Dad, Rob, Robyn, Ethan, Jordyn, and Kacy. Plus, my Grandma Mantay, Aunt Colleen, and my Grandma Byrns were there! How special it was to have both of my grandmas in the same place at the same time! I think the last time (and perhaps the only other time) I saw both of my grandmas together was at my wedding in 1999. Neil took some pictures of the three of us.

Mom prepared a wonderful lunch which included Chicken Crunch, a favourite recipe from my childhood. She also made Daffodil Cake (an old recipe from Mom's family; similar to an angel food cake, except egg yolks are incorporated into part of it) with white frosting, and served it with a whole raspberry sauce. Yum! Everything was great. Thanks again, Mom!

After lunch, I enjoyed visiting with everyone and looking through my genealogy files to find some information for my nephew who needed it for a social studies assignment. Robyn had asked me about it on Friday and it was perfect timing since we would see them on Sunday. The six kids and two dogs pretty much occupied themselves all afternoon while the adults visited. It was lovely!

On my birthday morning (Wednesday), the girls gave me their homemade cards and gifts -- a box of rocks from Georgia, two rocks and a laminated picture from Madeline, and a balloon from Sophia. Throughout the day, I received many birthday wishes via email and Facebook (birthdays and FB are a great combination!). In the afternoon, I was invited out for coffee with some coworkers in my current work group. We were also celebrating my coworker's 50th birthday the same day!

After work, Neil made a delicious supper of grilled steak (my favourite Herb & Mustard Steak), oven roasted potatoes and carrots from our garden, and spaghetti squash. He also made a very nice Mexican chocolate birthday cake (a teaspoon of cinnamon added to the cake mix makes it Mexican) with chocolate Fluffy Frosting (my go-to recipe for easy icing). L&B joined us for supper and cake after B's piano lesson. They gave me a gift card to get my nails done. I look forward to it!

After the kids were in bed, Neil and I watched Rubicon; the last one we had recorded. Great show! (We were very happy to get caught up on that because I'm on the employee trial for new Max and we could get the upgrade any time now.)

Wrapping up April

Since I spent so much time posting photos this month, I didn't have time to post a few other things that happened.

Madeline is getting much better at reading in English and I'm very excited for her! She's been reading well in French for quite some time now, but struggling with English reading. It's understandable since she doesn't learn any English at school. I knew she would get it eventually, but I was hoping it would happen a little sooner. It's hard to see her stuck on something! It's wonderful to see her trying so hard and making real progress now. Slowly, but surely, she's sounding out and figuring out the words she sees all around her.

The girls had annual checkups in mid April. They're all fine and growing well. (Georgia is 17.5 kg/38 lbs and 103 cm/40.5 inches; Madeline is 21.2 kg/47 lbs and 117 cm/46 inches; and Sophia is 34.5 kg/75 lbs and 137 cm/54 inches.) The only notable things were: (1) We learned Sophia was supposed to be getting speech therapy at school (recommended by Dr. O'Grady) because she has nodes on her vocal chords and her voice is a bit hoarse (it always has been); however, we haven't heard from the speech therapist who should have received the recommendation in January. And (2) Madeline has a wart on the bottom of her foot, so we're treating it with duct tape and it seems to be shrinking.

Sophia's class is participating in an online hockey pool at Pickuphockey.com. Each student chose their own players and they're supposed to check the standings each day. The kids are very excited about it. Sophia's strategy was to pick the top 10 of the top 150 players (as ranked by TSN). She was tied for first place for most of the first round, and is now in second place (with only six players left). We'll see how far her strategy will take her!

She's her father's daughter... Now that hockey play-offs are on, Georgia insists on watching hockey with Neil (rather than go to her bed) so she gets to snuggle up on his lap watching hockey until she falls asleep. Also, last week, out of the blue, she announced that she wants to have a Roughrider birthday party (with a green and white cake and pom-poms!) for her next birthday. I guess spending day after day with Neil is having a certain effect on Georgia!

Sophia and Madeline (and Bronwyn) started Girls in the Game last week. They'll be doing track and field activities in the gym for the first three weeks, then golf outside for three weeks, and then I'm not sure what for the final two weeks. Meanwhile -- this was a nice surprise -- the parents get two free passes every week to use the gym while waiting for the girls (or anytime). I wasn't prepared with the right footwear last week, but this week I enjoyed walking around the track with Laurel for 20 mintues. Also, the track is the only place from which parents can see their daughter(s) participating in the program, so it's nice to go in there and take a peek.

Over the past two weeks, Neil enjoyed showing artifacts and speaking about bison (past and present), and prehistoric hunting techniques, weapons, and tools (including demos of pressure flaking which sometimes involved real blood from Neil's hands!) to all of the classes at the girls' school. He received some very nice compliments from several teachers and a thank you card from the school. Sophia and Madeline really liked having their dad as a guest speaker, too. Neil has talked about bison and farming to the girls' classes in past years, but this was the first time he had been invited to talk to all classes, grades one to eight, plus one kindergarten class.

Neil and I watched all six parts of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. (I think it's the only TV I watched this month). This subject is very interesting to me. Unlike some children in the show, I'm pretty sure mine could name the vast majority of vegetables! They certainly don't like them all, but they have been introduced to many different veggies. Georgia warmed my heart this afternoon when she sang out, "If you give me some broccoli and dip, it will be my favourite thing! I'll eat it up! I'll chomp it up!" (which was her funny way of asking) and then she really did eat a bunch of broccoli.

Sophia had an orthodontist appointment this morning. We were surprised to learn that the alignment of Sophia's teeth has actually improved slightly since last July, so she will not be getting an expander and night-time head gear right now, as expected. Great news! Dr. Olfert said if it doesn't get worse, he may be able to adjust everything with braces later on and total treatment over two years instead of three. Now she just needs to go back every six months so he can monitor her bite, which could change for better or worse fairly quickly. The nice thing is that these check-ups don't cost anything.

All three girls had dentist appointments this morning for a check-up and cleaning. Sophia has a cavity in a baby tooth that's going to fall out soon, so there's no reason to fill it. Madeline's teeth are very crowded, so she'll need to see an orthodontist pretty soon. Georgia, we just learned, has a behaviour called tongue thrust in which she pushes her tongue out when she swallows, which in turn pushes her teeth out. We had no idea this was happening. (And here I thought it was wonderful that she had some space between her teeth; i.e., lots of room for adult teeth!) Apparently, it's not too much of a problem now, but it will be a big problem if she still has tongue thrust when her permanent teeth are coming in. To prevent this, we need to try teaching her not to do that (which is difficult for a 4-year old to learn) or she may need a special appliance to protect her teeth. :(

Madeline has been preparing for her spring piano recital on May 2. She has one little piece of music to play on the piano and a part in a rhythm ensemble. Also, my dance class, along with the beginner adult class, has been working on our performance piece for Mosaic. It's a lively and unique (choreographed by our teacher) 8-person set dance and then ceili dance with no break in between. It's quite fun, as well as challenging to learn. I think it's going to look great. I don't even know what dances the girls will be doing at Mosaic. As always, I look forward to seeing them perform! Madeline's piano solo and the music for my Mosaic dance are always popping into my mind these days.

LOAD + Winter Olympics =

Lots of fun but no blogging or housework (scary!). I was hoping to post something during this past week, but a super bad cold has slowed me down even further. Anyhow, I have still managed to make a layout a day -- 26 down, two to go! And I've been watching quite a bit of the Olympics. It's been so great the past few days! I am very proud of our Canadian athletes, especially Joannie Rochette.

After I get my next two layouts done, I will get back to blogging. I will also get back to doing housework! If only doing some housecleaning every single day were as compelling as scrapbooking every day! I may have to challenge myself to do just that through the month of March, and beyond. This house is not lookin' good.

Long weekend recap

Olympics opening day

We enjoyed watching the Olympics opening ceremonies Friday night. It is such a rare thing for all five of us to be in the same room watching the same thing. It was nice! Madeline and Georgia fell asleep after a little while (the show didn't start until 8:00 p.m. which is their bedtime), but Sophia stayed up for the whole thing. She didn't get to sleep until 11:30 p.m., but we didn't mind too much since the Olympic games don't happen very often -- especially hosted by Canada. Great to see so many amazing Canadians taking part in the ceremony. Glad to see the acknowledgment and moment of silence for the Georgian athlete who died earlier in the day. What a terrible tragic thing to happen.

We love watching the Olympics around here. I don't watch other sports on TV, but I really enjoy the Olympics. I was thinking about the last time the winter games were on. I was on mat leave with a six-week old. It was great!

Bison handling day

Saturday morning, we went to Yellow Grass to help my parents tag and vaccinate the bison calves. The girls stayed with Mom and visited their cousins in town while Neil and I helped at the farm. Neil loaded one of the tagging tools and held the calf's head while another man put a tag in each ear. I recorded weights and got the the tags ready, performing my tasks from inside the back of a Suburban. The tags have to be kept warm, so I had the warmest job of all, but it was quite hectic. I also had an 11-year old helping me (dad's employee's daughter), which was good. There were 10 people working altogether. After the work was done, we all had lunch at my parents' house in town. We headed home at 4:00 p.m. after a bit of relaxing and visiting.

This was my view for about 3.5 hours:

V-day

Sunday morning, I made Ooh-La-La Oven Pancakes (actually, just one; it's baked in a cake pan) as a treat for the kids, and we enjoyed eating it with raspberries from our freezer that we had picked in the late summer. The recipe comes from a children's recipe box that the girls received for Christmas a couple years ago. I included the recipe below. Next time, I'll have to make a double batch.

Dash had his first Petsmart Puppy Education class at 11:15 a.m. The class runs once a week for eight weeks. Neil will always go to the class and the girls will take turns attending the class as well. Sophia is working on earning a "Pet Pals" badge in Brownies (badge testing was tonight), so she attended the first class. (Meanwhile, Madeline, Georgia and I went to Michael's.) The instructor introduced clicker training to Neil and Sophia and gave them a clicker to keep. It looks like this is going to work well. I was very impressed when Neil showed me how quickly Dash is learning with the clicker.

After the puppy class, the girls spent some birthday money at Superstore (Georgia bought a fleece sweater while Madeline and Sophia bought refills for Martian Matter) and then we dropped them off at Bronwyn's for a play date. Neil went back to get them later in the afternoon.

For supper, Neil made one of our favourite recipes that, for some unknown reason, we haven't had in a long long time (years perhaps): Jalisco-style Pork Tenderloin. I've included the recipe below. The aroma is amazing! Neil served it with brown rice and lettuce salad. Mmmm.

Later, we were excited when Alex Bilodeau won the gold medal in men's moguls!

Also, I spent many hours scanning photos (and in some cases just photocopies of photos) and creating this digital layout using a template from Ali Edwards' Yesterday & Today class at BPS. This is not typical of the layouts I'm doing for LOAD!

Family Day

I love having this new holiday in February -- a day off work and school with no particular traditions or obligations attached to it (i.e., gifts, labour-intensive meals, cards, costumes, candy, etc.). Now THAT's a holiday! To celebrate, we had pancakes and bacon for lunch. Very much a treat for all of us!

We stayed home all day. I helped Madeline with piano homework and Sophia with her badge testing preparation. Neil worked on laundry and we both did some dishes. We all watched some Olympics coverage on TV. Madeline had a huge meltdown at supper time and ended up falling asleep at 7:00 p.m. (I think she and Sophia were up about 6:00 a.m.!) After supper, Sophia and Georgia helped me make Banana Oatmeal muffins -- which turned out very well considering I forgot to add the rolled oats! (I didn't even realize this until today.) I also did some scrapbooking, of course. Fifteen layouts so far!

We were very excited to learn that our cousins Darren and Ali had a baby girl in the afternoon!

Plus, I brushed and styled Georgia's hair (too rare!). Look how long it's getting:

A great long weekend overall!

***

Ooh-La-La Oven Pancakes

1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)
butter for greasing pan

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In separate bowl, beat the egg and milk together with a fork or egg beater until well combined. Stir in the melted butter.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Stir just to mix. Lumps are okay!

Grease the pan (8x8") and pour the lumpy batter into it. Add chocolate chips all over the top (if you want).

Bake the pancake for 25 minutes.

***

Jalisco-style Pork Tenderloin

2 3/4 lb. pork tenderloins
vegetable cooking spray
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tsp. grated orange rind
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp. commercial steak sauce [HP is good]
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves

Trim fat from tenderloins. Coat a dutch oven with cooking spray; place over medium high heat until hot. Add tenderloins; cook 10 minutes or until browned, turning occasionally.

Combine orange rind and remaining ingredients (except onion) in a small bowl; stir well. Pour orange juice mixture over tenderloins, and add sliced onions. Insert a meat thermometer into thickest part of tenderloin, if desired. Bring mixture in pan to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 10 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 160 degrees, basting occasionally with juices.

Transfer tenderloins to a serving platter using a slotted spoon. Let stand 10 minutes; slice diagonally across the grain. Serve tenderloins with onion mixture. [The sauce is very good with rice.]

Yield: 6 servings

(I don't remember where I got this recipe. I know I had it before Neil and I started dating, and those were the days before internet access and Food Network television!)

Good ol' Facts of Life

 
  I didn't know what to call this hair style
  last night, but it came to me today...
  It's: Jo from The Facts of Life!

  Hmmm, what other 80s television hair
  can we recreate -- without hairspray?!

September pics (20)

The suggestion for today was to capture something I watch, so I made this little collage of TV shows Neil and I are enjoying this month. (Heroes starts Monday; no doubt we'll enjoy it.) Have you seen Numb3rs? It's in its fourth season now, but we hadn't seen it before. We've been recording and watching the second season lately. Love it! Fringe is looking good too. It reminds me of X-files.

Thanks to TV.com for the three images on the right. (I added the titles.)

Update

I just learned CTV will be airing the From Scratch Kitchen segment today.

Update, 7:35 p.m. Nevermind! I just got home from volleyball and was told it wasn't on. (Our babysitter saw a promo for it today, so she thought it would be on tonight.)

From Scratch Kitchen

My friend, Sheralyn, invited me to go to the From Scratch Meal Assembly Kitchen last Tuesday for a private session (there were seven in her group). It was great! In one evening, I had seven six-serving meals assembled and ready for the freezer -- and ready to be used in a time crunch or anytime we just want something good and easy. Since Neil does most of the cooking in our house, these meals will be a nice break for him.

Here's how it works: At the website, www.fromscratchkitchen.com, you book your time slot and select the meals you want from the current menu, as well as the serving size (three or six). Then when you arrive at the kitchen (on Vic Ave), all the ingredients you need are ready for you. All you have to do is follow the recipe, measure, and assemble. And the best part: when you're finished assembling each meal, the staff clean up after you! The work stations were clean and nicely set up, so it was fun to work there too.

These were my selections:

• Chicken Broccoli Divan with Tea Biscuits
• Easy Cheesy Tortellini Bake with Sausage
• Lime in the Coconut Thai Chicken with Basmati Rice
• Sesame Chicken with Orange Sauce and Rice Pilaf
• Slow Roasted Beef Enchiladas
• Spinach Feta Artichoke Stuffed Chicken with Roast Potatoes
• Sweet and Saucy Saskatoon Berry Ribs with Crunchy Baked French Fries

All the side dishes were already prepared (except the potatoes are not cooked, and the tea biscuits require the addition of milk, and baking, of course). You just need to make sure you take the appropriate side dish home and cook it along with the rest of the meal. Also, I think another vegetable or salad is needed to complete the meal, so that's up to you.

I couldn't resist trying one of our meals right away, so on Wednesday, we had the Lime in the Coconut Thai Chicken. It was delicious! (And I didn't put banana in it because Neil hates bananas.) I think that one in particular was a bit more work to cook at home than the others because the chicken needed to be browned before it went into the oven. The others I selected just need to be defrosted and then baked in the oven.

I chose to do six-serving meals because we like having leftovers for lunch or supper the next day; however, the side dishes are probably too small for us to have any leftover as our kids will want to eat those the most. That was the case on Wednesday, so we had to make more rice on Thursday to have with the leftover Thai chicken.

I think the prices are reasonable for the food you get and the service. After all, they do all the grocery shopping, ingredient prep, and clean-up. It's about $6.00 a serving (not including the extra veggies we need to add at home). That's about what we'd pay for a crappy fast food meal, so I figure if these yummy meals can replace some crappy fast food meals (that we don't have very often anyway), then it's all good!

P.S. CTV was there on Tuesday to interview the business owner and film us assembling our meals. I think it will be aired on Thursday, Feb 14. I really hope I don't appear very much, or at all! I found it a bit distracting to have the TV camera pointed at me or my hands as I worked. When I was making the enchiladas, the camera guy warned me, "the camera will be right here under your elbow." Oh - great!

Backtracking on...

Sophia's hair cut... Heather had asked if it was her choice or mine. I'd say both. Sophia had said "four inches" and when the hairdresser held her fingers at four inches on Sophia's hair and looked to me for approval, I silently motioned to move her hand up (i.e., cut off more). I'm glad I did. I love Sophia's hair at this length! It suits her very well. She seems to like it too.

Storage solutions... Thanks for all the advice! I do use a lot of plastic containers and sometimes Ziplock bags (I have since put all of the girls' hair bands into a large Ziplock bag), but my problem is more about finding the right place to put those containers and bags. There's just not a lot of free space in my house. And convenience is important. It's like retail -- location, location, location! Frequently-used things need to be accessible and handy, especially when it's time to put things away -- or else they won't get put away. That's what bothers me most about our play room; its too far from where we spend most of our time. Toys brought out of the play room won't make it back there for a month (at least). I would prefer to store things closer to where we use them, and not just wherever they fit. For example, I don't really like having the hair brushes and accessories in the linen closet but that's where they live because there's no where else to put them right now. The Container Store, mentioned by Sally, is practically a fantasy world for me. (I think I had heard of it before, but had not seen the goods.) I would love to outfit all of my space- challenged rooms and closets with ultra- efficient, functional, and attractive storage solutions! I will definitely peruse that website more in the future. Whether I purchase items from there or not, I can get some good ideas.

Vacuuming itty-bitty toys... I would certainly make that threat more often if the vacuuming occurred when the children were available to run and pick up their prized possessions ahead of the nozzle! However, it seems most of our vacuuming occurs when the kids are in bed or not home. I guess we haven't figured out how to make them pick up their stuff before we head out the door or put them to bed. There's rarely a moment to spare at those times!

Eliminating naps at the sitter's... We don't want to make a big deal of it with our babysitter. We've been down this path before (with Sophia), and it's just not worth it. I guess our babysitter feels that if a child falls asleep in the afternoon during "quiet time", then she must need the rest. And we are happy with the care she provides otherwise. At least Madeline doesn't nap every single day (we're pleasantly surprised that she didn't nap Monday or today). I always remind myself: it's only temporary.

Watching Lost... Since we learned that Season 3 isn't available and the writers' strike may be over, we lost our enthusiasm for taping the current season and then trying to watch previous seasons first. We may watch it someday, but I don't think we're going to make the effort right now.

Bedtime. But first...

What an excellent evening! I attended A Reading By Leeann Minogue at the Shu-Box Theatre (U of R campus), hosted by the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. Theatre students and a local actor read a couple scenes from Leeann's hit play, Dry Streak, as well as some partial scenes from a play she's working on. The new play sounds fantastic! Leeann also answered some questions, discussed her writing process a bit, and explained how and why she started writing Dry Streak. I enjoyed it very much. (By the way, Access filmed this event, so those of you in Regina with Access can see it on the community channel.)

It was great to see Leeann again and it was also cool to meet a fellow blogger, Sally, whom I hadn't met in person before (you may have seen her comments here lately). When the Regina Little Theatre produced Dry Streak last fall, Sally played the role of Denise. (I didn't see that production, but I saw Dry Streak performed in Milestone earlier in 2007.) We all went to the Hotel Sask for a drink afterwards, along with a few other friends and family of Leeann's.

***

I was hoping to start a new project on this blog Feb 1, but due to technical difficulties and mostly a serious lack of time this week (especially tomorrow), I probably won't be able to post the first of this project until Saturday. Stay tuned...

***

P.S. (6:55 a.m. Feb 1) I should mention, Neil didn't have such an excellent evening while I was out. He had a terrible time putting all three girls to bed. In the past, Neil has been able to put them all to bed quite successfully on his own; much more quickly than I ever could. It seems this has changed. He had the same problem last Thursday when I played volleyball. The problem is none of them will stay in their bed or their room, so it's much more difficult for one parent to put them all to bed. Thankfully, we're both here almost every night. Georgia does not need a long nap in the afternoon anymore, but she usually has one at the babysitter, and Madeline doesn't need one at all, but since she goes to preschool in the morning now, she often falls asleep in the afternoon. Sophia has never needed much sleep. The result is three kids who are determined to stay up much later than we'd like. One can only hope this is temporary, although it may be years, not months, before we can eliminate the nap problem altogether! At least we know Madeline will be in afternoon kindergarten in the fall.

Random stuff

I need storage solutions for hair bands, play jewellery, and teeny tiny doll accessories -- among a gazillion other things.

I have a new appreciation for Webkinz since the girls' birthday parties. Webkinz have NO packaging, other than one little tag (most toy packages are like Fort Knox, and so wasteful); and they are ONE piece; i.e., they don't come with a bunch of things that are easily lost or scattered all over my house.

I miss my big camera. It's been gone for four weeks now. The little one is good, but it's just not the same.

I need to create something. I need a project. I was much too busy in January, but I hope to find time in the near future. I still want to do some sort of regular feature on my blog.

I'm dreading income tax time. I wish I could just do it myself and get it overwith, but 2007 was much too complicated (esp. re: farm partnership wrap-up; I don't know the implications). I hate gathering the info, handing it over to accountants and then having no idea what's going on or how long it'll take.

I should get cracking on the business of school Valentines so we're not doing it the night before.

I want to know what you think of the show "Lost". Neil mentioned it as something we might try to watch during the writers' strike. Thanks to friends' blogs, I know there are many other good ones we could try too (e.g., Damages, Dexter).

I'm half-way through my temporary position and I'm having a career crisis. I may write more about that sometime.

I have come up with a pretty good solution to help me consume more water -- at work anyway. I have purchased four 700ml bottles (four for the price of one, I might add), so I always have a clean one to take to work. I fill it up at the beginning of the day and I must drink it all before I leave. (I know that's not a lot, but it's more than I used to drink!)

I'm looking forward to summer. Actually, any temperature above zero will do. (For those not already intimately familiar with our current weather in Saskatchewan, it feels like -52 Celsius outside today.)

Daily pic: 25 Nov 07

We're off to watch the Grey Cup at our friends' home and we're taking bison ribs and pork ribs for supper. Neil also made a special barbecue sauce for them. Mmmm!

Kick-off in 56 minutes. GO RIDERS GO!

Daily pic: 21 Nov 07

Guys, I'm tapped. Well, almost tapped. I'll make it, but it seems like I've taken pictures of everything around here! I played volleyball this evening, I'm tired, and the last thing I felt like doing when I got home was wandering around my house looking for something to photograph. So, when Neil said we have a couple episodes of The Next Iron Chef to watch, that's all I wanted to do. And that's all I could think of for my daily pic. I'll try not to make a habit of photographing the TV!

I only watch three shows right now (always recorded; I never watch when they're aired): Heroes, Kitchen Nightmares, and The Next Iron Chef. Love this show! Suspense, drama, food, and even Alton. What's not to love?

P.S. The roads were terrible tonight! On my way to volleyball, three cars were in the ditch along the Ring Road near the university, and then on Arcola, two more cars were on the boulevard and the car in front of me slid off the road too. It took me 30 minutes to drive what normally takes 15. I was late, but so was everyone else.

Daily pic: 11 Nov 07

I caught the last few minutes of the game on TV as the Riders won the West division semi-final. All the sweeter as it was their first home playoff game in 19 years. In fact, the mere occasion of hosting a playoff game was enough to precipitate a 32-page preview in yesterday's local paper. This is major excitement in our province. Even I can't ignore it. Well, I do hope they go all the way! It's nice to be surrounded with glee.

Random Thursday

(Thanks for the title/idea, Jodi. Hope you don't mind!)

• I'm painfully behind on my email. I'm very sorry I haven't replied to some personal email messages!
• I've been working on my brother's company's website as much as possible lately because I need to get it done ASAP. We've booked our floor refinishing for June 18 and I have a lot of house stuff to do before then.
• I freecycled Martha. I had 62 issues of Martha Stewart Living ('97 to '03) and when I offered them on Regina Freecycle, four women jumped at the chance to make a new home for them. I couldn't decide who should get them, so I divided them into four batches. They all came to pick up their share within five minutes of each other on Tuesday evening.
• It's extremely rare for Madeline to put her shoes on the right feet. Statistically-speaking, you'd think she'd get it right more often. She must be mixed up, even though I have switched her shoes hundreds of times over the past couple of years! It's remarkable.
• My photography class ended today. Sadly, I didn't have time to do the last few assignments (they didn't have to be submitted or anything). I still have the lessons and assignments though, so I can do them anytime. I learned a lot and I'm very glad I took the class.
• After two years of wanting a PVR, Neil finally got one last week. Tonight we're going to watch my new favourite show, TLC's The Real Deal, which was recorded on Saturday. We're entering a new dimension.
• My age plus years of pensionable service only add up to 48 which means I'm not eligible for early retirement. Darnit.

Daily pic: 30 Apr 07

Neil and Georgia watching hockey playoffs. This has become an almost-daily ritual. And Georgia actually likes going downstairs to "watch hockey" with her dad. She sits on his lap most of the time but gets off every once in awhile to go get a toy or other object from the playroom. She takes it back to explore while she sits on Neil's lap again. The nice thing about this is that I usually get a couple of minutes of peace and quiet while Georgia is downstairs with Neil and Sophia and Madeline play outside. I've got to find the good in this hockey playoff business -- it's not going to disappear anytime soon! (As I wistfully recall the NHL strike of '04/05...)

P.S. The tooth fairy is visiting again tonight. Sophia's fifth tooth came out during her dance class today.

Heroes -- holy crap!

Heroes is awesome. It's the only series I'm watching and I'd hate to miss a second of it.