Urban gurls

A little aside for a little while. Read about what the daughters of mine were up to:
https://urbangurls.wordpress.com/

Simple pleasure #22 - simple pleasures

Reminding myself that there are always simple pleasures to savour despite whatever chaos I may encounter throughout the day.

Simple pleasure #21 - bike riding

Riding my bike home from work on a lovely autumn afternoon.

Goodbye Sally the Sentra

Today we said goodbye to Sally. She was a tough 'ol gal who saw us safely through many adventures including camping at Sanbanks, fireworks gazing in Niagara Falls and pumpkin picking in the Greenbelt. Closer to home we visited friends and family, hauled groceries and made it to school and work on time.

She endured extreme weather conditions, several hours at the garage (for reasons other than standard maintenance), and the not so tidy habits of her youngest passengers.

With a dent in her hood, rust on her side, a wonky door handle, mystery rattle, coolant leak and over 304,540 KM on her odometer, we thought it best to bid her adieu. Finally.

We thank her for her service and hope to one day see her parts upcycled into something like an art sculpture, garden tools or a park bench. That would be really cool.

**

Got an old car that has had its last day? Consider donating it to http://kidney.ca/kidneycar. Help the environment and people living with kidney disease across Canada.

Simple pleasure #21 - fenders

Bicycle fenders on a rainy day.

Simple pleasure # 20 - sleeping in

Turning the alarm on the clock to "OFF" before going to bed on Friday night.

Excuse me waiter, there’s a wasp in my coffee

Well this was an unusual sight to come home to.

Yesterday afternoon I was about to make my way to the back of my house through the narrow pathway that separates mine from my neighbours' house, when I spotted a mug perched on the floor at the side of my front porch. The mug isn’t one of mine so intrigue lured me to take a closer look.

What I saw was a wasp doing the backstroke in a few ounces of what looked like coffee. Huh.

I assumed the mug belonged to my neighbour and would come for it later, so I left it and carried along my way.

Could this be a new trend in homemade wasp traps? Leave a mug of coffee on the porch and wait for the wasps to fly in and drown? It seemed to work. The pesky insects are everywhere this time of year and people can get pretty creative with ways to keep them away. I have a friend who used to hang large balls of paper in the tree above her outdoor dining table. The idea was for the wasps to see another "nest" and stay away. Unfortunately I'm not sure it worked so well, but it did make for interesting tree ornaments. 

My technique is to give the wasps a swat with a tightly rolled magazine. Making contact usually gets them to fly away.

Store bought traps are another option. During a recent trip to Canadian Tire I was browsing the pest control aisle when a gentleman came by and grabbed a Wasp Trap with Hanger from the shelf. "It works best if you put cheap beer in it," he said to me.

"What kind of cheap beer?" I asked. I wasn't looking for a wasp trap, and I don't drink beer, but I was curious about what was considered cheap and works. You know, for future reference. I think his response was "Coors" but by now I honestly can't remember. I do know, however,  that Coors is less on the dollar scale, then say, Creemore Springs.

The gentleman went on to suggest a trap for my own pest issue. But that's another story...

So there you have it. Be it coffee in a mug, hanging papers balls, magazine rolls or store bought traps on a hanger,  there are plenty of techniques to try out to get rid of wasps.

STOLEN

I appreciate a little humour in the morning. It makes for a pleasant start to the day.

This morning on the ride to work while stopped at a traffic light, I noticed the licence plate of a nearby car, and it made me chuckle.

ONTARIO

STOLEN

YOURS TO DISCOVER

I wasn't quick enough to snap a pic but the idea is captured. So funny! Where in the world could Ontario be? Quick, go find it!

In Quebec, vanity plates aren't so common, but I've noticed over the past several years, that Ontarians like to have a bit of fun with it. Makes for for a bit of fun for passers by too.

Revival

10 months since the last post to this blog. I blame the children.

Ok,  not really. But sort of really.

Claire started talking and walking and climbing on furniture, and tossing whatever she could get her hands on in every which way, and crying her way into my bed at all hours of the night. She became a toddler.

Lauren needed to be taken to hip hop class and birthday parties and play-dates and out to the park for fresh air and exercise. She became an active kid.

Sometime in between there C and I went to work every day. Then came home at night and made dinner and did laundry and made lunches and cut the lawn and washed smudges off the walls and picked up food from the floor and bought paint for the next home improvement project and cleaned the fish bowl. Among other things

This is nothing new for any young family, but it's time consuming and tiring. It's also pretty great. I do remember C and I having a date night or 2 or a few. I do remember cuddling on the couch with the girls to read stories. I do remember our annual summer family camping trip.

Time goes by fast (where did 10 months go anyway?), and its time to take note again of all these great moments.  Stay tuned for more fun and adventure!

Nice day for a bike ride

I'm squeezing every last opportunity to bike to work this year. I'm always delighted to make it past October, so getting to ride halfway through November is pretty awesome. It was above 0 degrees this morning - 8, 9 or maybe 10? I don't even remember, but it was mild so I couldn't resist.

I've been glancing out the office window all day monitoring conditions and watching the flag across the street flap around in the wind. The flapping has been getting more vigorous as the hours pass. I think I may have misjudged today.

As long as the rain holds back, I'll be ok. I just need 40 minutes and I'm home free.
Good luck to me...

Duh moment

I went 3 hours into the day before realizing that my top was on backwards. No
wonder it felt like it didn't fit properly. I honestly thought it shrunk a
little in the wash.

All the more reason to turn a few more lights on when I get dressed in the morning, duuuh..

Bitter sweet

As Lauren cries and howls over the colossal injustice of my insisting that she cannot wear her favourite  sweater tomorrow, for the third day in a row, because the cuffs are grubby and needs to be washed, Claire does her best to comfort her big sister: She pats Lauren's back, gives hugs and offers a fluffy blanket to dry her face.

These girls will reach a high pitched earsplitting screech when they're at odds, but watching them console each other is absolutely sweet.

I lub you

Claire said her first 3 word sentence yesterday!

C had Claire in his arms in a squeezy hug when she said it: "I lub you". It was so sweet and un-prompted, and so clear.

After the excitement of the milestone moment, I asked Claire if she loved me too, to which she answered, "Too".

Happy anniversary!

I was browsing facebook this morning and noticed a beautiful post from a friend acknowledging her wedding anniversary. Until that very moment, I had forgotten that C and I have a wedding anniversary today too. Oops!

Truth be told, I don't feel so badly about forgetting the date. Moments before reading the facebook post, I was  thinking about the weekend that C and I just had with the girls. We didn't pre plan anything, yet it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable weekends of the summer. The sun was shining,  and the temperature was perfect. We played in our backyard, went swimming, spent some time with  Grandma M, Auntie M and Uncle W. We got some back to school shopping done, played in the park and ended with a simple home BBQ dinner, just the four of us.

I've mentioned in an earlier post that C and I go back way beyond August 26, 2006. It was a fine day, don't get me wrong, but so much happened in our lives before, and has since. Wonderful and sad, funny and bizarre, we've experienced it all and created some great memories, and will continue to create many more.

We've made a family and a home. We are happy and we are healthy. We are so fortunate and for that I am grateful.

Here's to many more years of us!

The Elie & Booth Greatest Show on Earth

Every so often, and almost always at the dinner hour, the circus comes to my house.

By this time of the day hunger and fatigue set in quickly which heightens the thrill of the show. Lauren and Claire morph from their human selves into feisty lion cubs as they snarl and claw at my legs. Unlike many lion tamers before me, I won't put my head near their mouths.

C the juggler works fast with no less than 4 items on the go at a time. One hand flipping food in the frying pan while pouring glasses of milk. The other hand cutting veggies and tossing a salad all the while whipping plates onto the table. The legend goes that he grows a third arm for the act, but it's hard to tell because it's all a blur.

Once seated Claire morphs again, this time into elastibaby showing off her super flexibility with one leg swung up on the tray of her high chair. As a bonus feature and if the mood is right, she'll smear food on her toes before putting them in her mouth. The crowd goes wild every time.
 
In the other ring Lauren has become a nimble acrobat, balancing on her chair stretching across the table to reach the ketchup bottle.

Back to elastibaby who by this short time has already made her food disappear. She then pulls a Houdini by freeing herself from  her bib.

Lauren continues her act as by leaping from her chair to perform a pirouette or two. She then makes her way around the table to gives hugs and kisses to her adoring fans.

Come one, come all! There's always something spectacular to see and the show is guaranteed not to disappoint.

The not so funny giggles

I love it when my girls laugh. The sound brings joy to my heart. At 2 am, however... not so much.

At around half past midnight this morning Lauren woke up crying that her underwear was wet. Great. I quickly checked out the scene and concluded they were dry, but her sheets were damp. It was warm in the room so I suspect she just got really sweaty.

Claire was up at this point so I hauled both girls back to my room. Co-sleeping is the quickest way to get us all back to sleep. Usually.

C woke long enough to ask what was going on, and of course Lauren fell asleep again in seconds. Claire spent the next hour flip flopping around and I was wide awake with my nose centimetres from the wall. Sometimes 4 in a bed is too close for comfort.

Thinking she'd settle down if we snuggled together, I brought Claire back to the girls' room and tucked us both in to Lauren's bed, throwing a towel over the damp spots. By this time new clean sheets didn't really matter.

I lay as still as possible so Claire would get the hint and close her eyes. Fat chance. Instead she flopped around some more, perhaps in an attempt to get comfortable, but eventually gave it up to rummage through the dozen or so stuffed toys that Lauren has piled in her bed. No wonder she got so hot!

Moments later Claire started to giggle. Giggle! I opened my eyes just a sliver so she wouldn't notice that I was really awake, and saw that she was clutching Lauren's purple Monstaz, or Fuzzball as she calls it. This is a newish toy that she received from a friend for her birthday and currently holds the top spot of her favourite toys. According to Lauren's strict instructions, Claire is not allowed to touch Fuzzball for fear that she will chew it and make it all "yucky and wet". Fair enough.

So there we were, 2 in the morning, 4 hours from when the alarm was set to go off to start a brand new day. C and Lauren were in my bed enjoying sweet dreams, I was faking sleep in Lauren's sweaty bed and Claire was pleased as punch to finally be holding in her hands her sister's prized Fuzzball. Not such a funny situation for me, but to Claire, absolutely!

What am I?

A few months ago out of the blue Lauren asked, "What am I?"

"What do you mean?" I replied, as I wasn't sure what sort of answer she was expecting. Tall, short, hot, cold, Peter Pan, Cinderella, bunny rabbit, puppy dog. The answer could be anything depending on the circumstance or whatever game is being played.

"Well, Rachel* is Jewish, Max* is Ethiopian. What am I?"

"Oooh... right." I thought out  loud. I knew this question would come along one day and have yet to come up with a simple answer.

"Well, you were born in Canada like me and Daddy, so you're mostly Canadian. But... (then I took a deep breath) Grandma Mary is from Africa, Grandpa Philip was from England, Grandma Bernadette is from Haiti and Grandpa Fred was from Haiti and France, so you're from all over the world!"

I didn't even bother mentioning that Grandma Mary's mother was from Angola and her family was originally from Portugal. And Grandma Mary's paternal grandfather who was from England sailed to Bermuda and married a Bermudian and they both settled in Sierra Leone. And that Grandpa Philip had a wee bit o' Irish in him too.

What I got in return was a blank stare, followed by, "Oh." And then she went off to do something else somewhere else.

I'm not sure she processed anything at all of what I said. She's still working on sorting out that we live in Toronto, which is a city in Ontario, which is a province in Canada. Never mind having any concept of where in the world Haiti or England is.

I will never come up with a simple answer, but what I can do with Lauren is spend time looking at family photographs and maps and reading about all the different countries that our family tree has branched out to. Hopefully she will someday realize that what she is, is pretty lucky to have such a rich and diverse family history.



*Real people, but not their real names!

Now we are friends

I like being out and about with Lauren. She often has interesting encounters with the people we meet.

Last week we walked into the neighbourhood dollar store and were greeted by the woman behind the counter.

"Hello!" She said.

"Hello!" Lauren and I replied.

I was already off down the aisle looking for what I needed, but Lauren, who was trailing behind, got a follow up question.

"How are you?"

"I'm good... and you?" Lauren asked in return.

"I'm good, thank you."

A few moments later I had what I needed so we made our way back to the counter to pay for it. In that short time Lauren must have determined that the woman was friendly and receptive because she held up her cupped hands.

"Ooohh, what do you have there?" The woman asked.

"A snail I found!" There's a particular spot along our route home from school where snails like to gather on a rainy day. On this day Lauren picked one up to bring home.

"Wow, that's a nice one! I think I have a little bag that you can carry it in."

She then took Lauren's snail and put it in a tiny baggy. A grin from ear to ear grew on Lauren's face .

"What's your name?" Asked the woman.

"Lauren."

"I am Suraiya." She held out her hand for Lauren to shake. "Now we are friends."

Baby girl walking

Claire is walking!

She has been taking two and three steps at a time only every once in a while, for a few weeks now, but this weekend she was stepping further along and much more frequently.

The steps are slow and steady, but she's definitely gaining momentum.  

Miseria per dentem crepitus -or- misery caused by tooth explosion -or- teething sucks

Poor Claire. For the past week or so she has been experiencing what I call miseria per dentem crepitus,  or misery caused by tooth explosion. Yes, teething has been so bad I thought the experience deserved Latin recognition.

She handled the front teeth pretty well, but now the molars are pushing up (top and bottom) and there have been tears. Lots of them. And clinginess and not much sleep. The worst night so far was Friday. After hours of her flopping around restlessly in my bed I handed her over to C at 3am so I could get some sleep. What he was doing still awake, who knows, but apparently she stayed up and fussed with him for another two and a half hours before crashing finally. C caught up on his sleep after that.

We're trying a few different relief methods to ease the pain, but they only work for so long. Wait it out seems to be the only thing left to do. Hopefully the worst is over and the wait won't be much longer.