Whatcha lookin' at Willis?

Nothing to see here. keep moving, keep moving. You do not see anything. nothing, nada, rien. Zip zilch zero




Think she can cut a deal with the coppers? Driving while cute? Under the Influence of Adorable-ness?

At least she checks her blind spots


More than I can say for 95% of Toronto drivers :/

No.....

what the....?
no...
it couldn't be.
It's not.
They wouldn't.
They don't.

yeah. oh hell yeah. It is. It sure it. They sure would. They do too.


This has got to be the funniest DAMN THING I have ever seen in my short eventful life.

You see it? errr, *ahem* them

look closer


They wibbled and they wobbled but they didn't fall down!



Thank you Mr. Pick Up truck, thank you for the great laugh. You ball buster you :D

Home comforts



My little guy has bounced back from surgery as only a wee child can. If the scars weren't still needing to be bandaged and there wasn't still a tube sticking out of his kidney, you'd never know he was just on the operating table! Oh to be young and resilient. oh to be strong, and flexible and hail and whole. I would have been knocked on my ass for a fortnight after the same surgery.

Mr Man did need a few things to make his stay in the hospital bearable. As bearable as being confined to a hospital bed with both hands bandaged can be for an almost-three year old!

Pink baby, of course. She was essential. She was a life saver. I love pink baby, she's getting a mighty nice christmas present this year, I tell ya!

His superman pillow, both for some familiar smells and we all know how sucky hospital pillows are.

His doggie quilt, which his grandma put together from squares made from each of his close family members. You can just see the red face under the DVD player - my square :D

And of course, the silver box that saved the day, his "DVDV" player.

these 4 things saved my sanity. Or rather what was left of my sanity ;)

Coming soon, to a computer terminal near you...

more redcanuck. Just not now. or maybe tomorrow. but soon. real soon. I promise. yes, you can trust me. I'm canadian!

We're home, I have my two little munchkins tucked into bed, a glass of very strong alcohol in my hand, some fenugreek warming my belly and a book in my hand trying desperately to erase the last 3 days of hospital living from my poor tired anxious brain. The horror. The raw horror...ugh, i won't go there. Just promise me some thing. don't ever, ever, spend time in the pediatric ward of a pediatric hospital. You won't be the same person coming out as you went in.

Alright, i'm out before this turns into a drunk post where my typing deteriorates even more than normal and I start telling you I love you soooooooo much. or something :)

later homies!

Which of you

stole my camera and took this picture? Because I didn't. What the heck is it? Huh, my son's orange pants, abandoned as always outside the bathroom. But *why* is there a picture of his pants? I have no idea. I swear I did not take this photo. I have better things to do. Monumental things, earth shatteringly important things. I've got things people. No time for pictures of orange pants.

So why the heck do I have a picture of them?


And dang it, it's in focus?! WHY?!?!


How can I sleep tonight with such a mystery hanging over my head?! HOW i ask you?!

No, i did not!

I did not give my 10 month old an oatmeal cookie to chew on so that she's lie still and then maybe fall asleep so I could watch CSI: NY while my son slept. I would NOT do that. Never. You cannot prove it.




D'oh!! Who invented cameras anyways?

Maka da baby food

Not like my daughter actually eats real people food, so lord knows why I keep making baby food, but I do. She won't go to kindergarden on a diet of breastmilk, so she's bond to eat...eventually. An when that time comes, I will be prepared. And what better thing to make into baby food that chicken noodle soup? nothing. Nothing I tell you, nothing. veggies. protein. fiber. yum

Maka da soup. done!

Puree.

That's my magic Bullet. I love it. It's almost my favourite bullet. yeah...


scrap into mini muffin tins.


Splurge and buy the silicon ones, it makes popping out the soup posicles easier. And the size is just right for those mesh feeders. perfect.


Freeze. Done.

see how easy it is?

Soul food!

With my son's surgery looming before us like bad breath in an elevator, I've been doing everything I can to keep him healthy. And of course, he got sick. the green boogies took up residence yesterday, so now I've doubled my efforts to banish them.
Amongst the various home remedies we have going on in this house, I decided that dinner just had to be Chicken noodle soup. It was a no-brainer.

So since I had to clean my kitchen anyways, I took pictures. I do it all for you guys. My wonderful, adoring, fan...s?

So, grab some veggies. My soup is like everything else I cook, just...stuff. Whatever floats your boat baby.
You gotta have celery, carrots and onion. It's like, my only rule.


I don't have time for much, so I use *cough cough* premade chicken broth. I'm so sorry.
And I used a chicken breast. Don't hate. I know the dark meat and bones is where it's at, but all I had was chicken breast. I made do. I zapped it, and shredded it. easy. I like easy.


Chop. I like to peel my carrots, but not my potatoes. Go figure.


Chop. Use your big knife. Now THAT'S a knife. Use the heel, work the knife baby, work it. feel it. be one with your knife.


I hate peeling potatoes. So I don't. I'm a rebel with a cause baby.


How many times can I say baby, baby?

baby

baby

aaaand I"m done. thanks for letting me get that out of my system.

right, back to the soup.

Cauliflower is good for you 'yo. So why not put it in soup? I dunno, so I did. yum. Mine was a little...past it's prime. But that's ok, just trim off the spots. It's still good.


Throw is allllll in a pot. Cover with chicken broth. stir.


bring to a boil. turn down the heat, and simmer till veggies are tender.


Grab a snack, don't let any of that lushious celery go to waste. Yum


aaaand a drink. it's a saturday, my husband is home, it's five o'clock somewhere, my best friend is at the bank, I'm moving, my baby boy is having surgery on monday, drink.


Boil another pot of water. Just do it.


This is why. Noodles. You do not want to put the noodle sin the soup. they get yucky. and you can't freeze 'em. And we all know you make soup to freeze ;)


Soups done! I decided to throw in some chopped Spinach. The soup needed some colour. And Iron. It was a little anemic.


noodles. bowl. soup. enjoy

In the darkest dark of February...

When the snow has us buried to our eyeballs, the sun's MIA file is covered in dust, and our last babysitter is a fond faraway memory, being "wife" can be easily forgotten. I'm on-call mom 24/7, with no daycare to fall back on. I'm on-call milk machine 24/7, with nary a bottle to fall back on. I'm the 24/7 cook, maid, chauffeur, doctor, nurse, playmate, story teller, audience, decorator...pretty much everything. Add into this mix the extra demands of dealing with all house buying and moving related faxes, phone calls, emails and decisions, all surgery related faxes, phone calls, emails and decisions, and I am t.i.r.e.d. With a Capital T. What I needed tonight was some inspiration. Some major inspiration. And wouldn't you know it, I found it. Somehow I stumbled across the written copy of my marriage ceremony, filed and forgotten. The part that I really needed to read tonight was our "community giveaway", and went like this:

Community Give Away

To last, a marriage should be a consecration of each person to the other, and to the wider community of which they are a part. Because red and Dude feel a great closeness and respect for all of you here, they chose each of you to witness their vows today. Marriage is an intensely personal act, but, in order for the couple's marriage to gain strength to last throughout the years, their union must be supported by their greater society of family and friends.

I invite you all to share in this moment by expressing your love, hope and joy for this occasion. If you are able, please stand now.

We are all here out of a love for red and dude and a support of this marriage. Please join in an affirmation of your wishes for them by saying "We do" to this question:

Do you promise to support red and dude with your love, uphold them with your wisdom and, through the days and years that lie ahead, sustain them in the vows they make today?

"We do!"

Thank you all. Please take your seats again



Tonight, I needed to be reminded that while I may feel that the responsibility of the world, and my family, rests heavily on my shoulders, there were many people out there who would gladly ease some of my burdens. The simple knowledge that you are loved and supported goes a long way, especially on this dark and snowy February night, as far from my beautiful June wedding as I could imagine.


Here's to hoping that on this dark and snowy february night, you have the same sense of community and support that I was able to rediscover.


yeah, we were babies.

It's obvious.

As an almost-thirty year old woman, I just cannot comprehend the inner workings of a almost-three year old boy's brain.

This, this is my son. You already know him. But did you also know that he has a band-aid fetish? And that this doozy has been attached to his noggin for almost TWO whole weeks now?


I don't know what I am more confused about. A cheapie bandaid lasting 2 weeks, or *wanting* a bandaid attached for two weeks.

It's just so wrong. It's all kinds of wrong.

Like I said, It's obvious, I just cannot comprehend the inner workings of an almost-three year old boy's brain.

But really, ew? EW? EWWWWWWWWW!

thank god he's cute. I can only imagine all the gross stuff I have to look forward to in the coming years.

Boy cooties

"Mommy, he's touching me. HE'S TOUCHING ME, AND HE'S A BOY. A boy. Boys have cooties. make.him.go.away. MAKE him stop touching me"




Is it wrong that I am secretly gleeful that my little girl wants nothing to do with boys? Cause I am. yup, I am.

Duelling Blog post titles

"Mommy forgot to do laundry"

or

"When almost-three-years dress themselves"

Thinking of something else...

anything else. Anything at all but the fact that my little munchkin Mr. Man goes in for his pre-op appointment tomorrow, which means that Monday's surgery is right around the corner



He'll come through with flying colours, and will be having the nurses and doctors in stitches themselves hours after surgery, I have no doubt. He'll be swinging from the light fixtures by day's end, IV's be damned.

Yet, as his mommy, i'm till worried sick. When I first signed up to be a mommy (or peed on a stick, semantics and all) I had no inkling how my child would be the owner of my heart. I don't live for him - I live because of him.

Cheeky little bugger

We have a new rule in this house...

No naked butts on tables.




I mean, really?

Being the youngest can suck.

I should know, i was the youngest. This could very well have been today, or 28 years ago.

It starts good. "look ma, I got a ball!"


big brother notices that little sister has something cool


And swoops in for the steal


Yoink!


Wait, what? Miss A is left with, "What just happened here?"


poor little sister

i *heart* faces week 6!

"Wonder"

well folks, it's that time of week again. Wonder what I'm going to come up with. Get it, get it? wonder? har har. hee hee. Ha ha. I so funny.

Laugh, damn you, laugh.

Thank you. See, wasn't too hard, eh? Right.


If you haven't already checked them out, check em out!



Kids


Adult

Wonder

The theme for this week's contest over on I *heart* faces is "Wonder". I've been searching through my archives thinking about what pictures fit, when I ran across this one. And while I can't submit it because, really, technically I didn't take it, it fits rather nicely, eh?

This, my dear friends is me mere seconds, moments, nanseconds after giving birth to my daughter. And yelling out "IT'S A BABY!"
Photobucket

Why yes, I am always that eloquent. You try pushing out an 8 lb watermelon without pain meds and see what shakespearean sonnet escapes your lips, hmmm?

Why people with cameras are not invited to many parties

Because we take pictures like this

of our loved ones that they do not ever want to see the light of day.

Wait, maybe it's this one...


yup, that's the one.

When people with cameras are invited to parties, the smart people sit out of range from the lens.
Like Nat. She's a smart one.


She knows I am too lazy to go get the big penis zoom lens, yet I hate clutter, so just avoid pictures like these. Dammit, since when are blonds smart! (I kid, I kid. Honest. haha)

Of course, if you sit *too* close, if means I get random pictures like this:
"This is my eye"


And of course, when you sit right in the sweet spot, I tend to get plenty o' pictures of open mouths. like

this.

or this


and this.


I"m so sorry txt. I call her txt since her thumbs are perma attached to her phone. Love you txt :D


At the end of the night, filled with gossip, husband rants, and sex (or lack thereof) talk, I am thankful for all my friends that keep me sane.

I am also thankful I am not pregnant anymore.


I love you guys!

Happy Potato and Leek Soup Day!!

Or something like that.

The Dude with the key to my heart is a soup lover. Soup is practically a part of his religion. Heritage. Blood. He likes soup. SO today, on the day we celebrate our loves, I made my man soup. I am predictable, and he is grateful. We are a match made in heaven!

Of course, what kind of random blogger would I be if I didn't take pictures a la PW to share with you all?! I would be NOTHING. that's what. so here are the pictures, my friends.

This is one of the easiest recipes you will ever make. Trust me.
Get a big pot. Put it on the stove. See? easy!
Turn on the heat to low. Throw in some buttah. It's getting a little harder, but stay with me now, you can do this.

Cut up some Leeks. Leeks can be tricky buggers. They have a lot of dirt and icky bits stuck between the leaf layers, so you're gonna want to slice them in half, then chop em and soak them for a bit. Like this.

Cut


Chop


Soak.


Nasty after water. Told ya.


Cut up some potatoes.


Just cut 'em up however the knife lands on 'em. We'll be pureeing it later, so really, just cut 'em up however makes you happy.
Throw them in the hot pot.


Stir, slap the lid on for 10 minutes or so. Or... change a diaper, find a missing thomas train, call your mom, go pee, and fold a load of laundry. 10 minutes, give or take.


ALthough, maybe those 10 minutes should have been spent scrubbing my stove. ugh.

Add enough water to cover the potatoes and Leeks. Bring to a boil, then reduce and let simmer until potatoes are tender and are mushable. Yes, that is a technical term. Here. On my blog.


Break out your immersion blender and blend. And blend some more.


tada!