Princess Doll Cake

Here is the Princess Doll Cake I made recently for my daughter's birthday.  Of course when I went to make it, I couldn't find the aluminum rod that goes down into the middle of the cake bowl.  I looked and looked, getting pretty agitated, blaming the kids for taking absolutely every small item in the entire house and hiding it in completely unforeseeable places.  Finally I gave up and decided to make my own with aluminum foil.  It was the only thing I could think of.  They're both aluminum, right?  It would have to do!  It worked well enough.  And of course, as I was baking the cake, I found the real aluminum rod in my baking cupboard where I had put it to keep it safe from the kids....sorry, kids!  Love you!

Daniel Craig - James Bond in SkyFall

What can I say except that I love Daniel Craig as James Bond?  I just saw the official trailer for Skyfall and it looks amazing!  I can't wait to see it.  Here is the link:

http://youtu.be/YvV3g8hLlyU




Also, there's a great article in Maclean's right now on an interview with him about the movie.  I like his personality.  If I could put a picture of his personality on the blog, of course I would.
(Too many photos?  I only put the swimsuit photo in because people would expect it.  Obviously.)

Mmmmm, Mindfulness!

I went to a workshop on mindfulness yesterday.  I think most people are afraid of things like this; they think they're weird.  I understand that, but really it's just simple relaxation.

And now that I'm a working mom - well I've always been a working mom, but now I'm basically full-time outside the house as well as inside - I could really use some more relaxation in my life.

It didn't start out well, of course.

The sessions were already running late, and I was running to the bathroom before the workshop began, but bathrooms on two successive floors were closed to cleaning so I had to run to a third floor!

And then I couldn't find the room.

So I was late and flustered.  When I finally found the room and barged in, I found everyone completely quiet with eyes closed, doing the first mindfulness session.  Of course I dropped my purse and a few things fell out with a crash, and I completely disrupted the whole zen thing going on.  (Sorry about that, fellow workshop participants.)

Anyway, I was definitely in the mood for some calm.  I ignored the dirty looks (that wasn't very mindful by the way!) and got ready to participate.  I was happy when we did another session at the end.

I had my eyes closed and I was focusing on my breathing.  I think I was doing pretty well.  But then I said to myself, panicking:  "OMG!  I forgot to turn off the ringer on my new cell phone.  I don't even know how to turn it off!  I can't possibly disrupt a session again!  They'll kick me out of mindfulness.  How will THAT look??"

And it's not really practicing self-kindness when you're kicking yourself and telling yourself what an idiot you are for not being technologically literate enough to know how to turn your !@#$% phone off.

Anyway, you can see that I need to work on this mindfulness thing a little bit.

When we were being quiet and trying to be aware of what was going on in our bodies, I realized that my face was practically vibrating with stress.  Just sitting there calmly for several minutes without any expectations, just focusing on being in the moment nonjudgmentally and without trying to list your groceries or all the things you need to get done that day - it was so nice.

The great thing is that even if you get distracted, you're not supposed to judge yourself.  You're just supposed to matter-of-factly bring yourself back to being aware of your breathing.  The leader of the workshop said that most people's minds are full of racing thoughts and that we are usually just carried away by them all the time.  That's me.

She said we need to practice 'kind patience' to ourselves.  Isn't that a great phrase?  I think we could all use more kind patience.

Mindfulness is really just taking time each day to calm yourself down.  It could be going for a nature walk or run.  It could be listening to a song that relaxes you.

You don't have to wear bells or tie-dyed shirts or chant while you're doing it.  It's just breathing.   Aahhhhh.

I Don't Know How I Do It...Correction: I Am Not Doing It

I am now working both inside and outside the house every day (did you see how I phrased that?).  I have been part-time since our first child was born, but now all of our children are in school every day.  So it's back to work for me.

So far, so terrible.

It's like when you have your first child.  You think you were busy before, but then you realize that actually, you had all the time in the world and you completely and utterly took it for granted.  You had absolutely tons of time on your hands that you thoughtlessly and uselessly squandered.

Then you have another child.  And you realize that with one child you had loads of free time... and on it goes.

I thought I was busy before.

And let's clarify.  Of course it is busy for moms working outside and inside the home.  But I think we can agree that when all the children are in school all day, it is a completely different kettle of fish.  Or ball of wax.

(Hmmmm.  Neither of those sayings mean anything to me at all.  I can't relate in any way, so why do I use them?  Let's just say that it is a book of a completely different genre.  That's better.)

The point is that I would be ecstatic to have 7 hours every day on my own.  Alone.  Free from distractions.  Able to do errands!  Read labels and make decisions!  It would be a beautiful thing.

I could organize my house.  I could decorate it.  Heck, I could BUILD it.

Right now I am either at work or I have three children with me.  Yes, I have a husband.  But I think because I worked part-time for so long, and because I am a mom and it means the most to me, I have taken over all the kid-related things (except for hockey).

I do homework.  I set out clothes for them that I have bought.  I shop for toiletries.  I buy birthday presents for their friends.  I take them to all medical appointments.  You see where I'm going with this.

It doesn't help that all three children have activities and that my husband and I also have our own activities so it is a very busy household.

I find that little things can send me right over the edge.  Like the other day when I was trying to find socks for the entire family so we could go on a hike.  I couldn't find any that matched and didn't have holes.  I practically lost my mind.  I should have just said, "We're all going sock-less, and we're going to LIKE it."  These are the things I have to learn now that I am working every day outside the house.

I'm going to do groceries at 9:00 p.m. at night.  I'm going to be on close intimate terms with my crock pot.  And I am going to have to do things like stockpile birthday presents so I don't have to go out every time a child is invited to a birthday party.  And I'm going to spend enormous sums on groceries (last time I almost fainted dead away in front of the cashier when she told me the total).  But I will do it again.  Why?  Because I don't have time to do groceries more than once a week.  So I will buy extra bagels and milk and chicken that is already cooked.

I will absolutely cherish P.A. days and holidays.

And I will buy socks.  Lots and lots of socks.

 

Ancaster Fair Fun!

We went to the Ancaster Fair this past weekend.  We had a great time.  My children are all at good ages for the fair at 5, 7, and 9.  Ella went on the merry-go-round, the tea cups, and a 'fun slide' that she said was too fast and 'freaked her out'. 

The boys went on a roller coaster, the Sky Drop, and (above) the Zero Gravity. I thought for sure that ride would make them puke up their hot dogs.  It spins them around and then tilts up and down while spinning.  They're not even held in very tightly.  The ride operator said, "They're held in by centrifugal force."  Centrifugal force?  That's good enough?  They can't throw on a seat belt?  The entire ride I was saying to myself, "Bad Mom Award to you!  How can you even let your children ride this thing?  IF they survive, they'll get off all nauseous and sick and the Fair will be wrecked for them forever!"  (They had begged me for hours to let them do it.)   They got off the ride, eyes wide, and yelled, "MOM!  That was the most awesome ride ever!  LET'S DO IT AGAIN!"  Whew.   Dodged a bullet there.

It really made me notice again the differences between boys and girls.  And not that one is better than the other; of course not.  It's just interesting.

So all three did the fish pond, and got to pick out an inflatable.  My oldest son picked out a large sword.  My middle son picked out an even bigger 'Super Bat'.  (Like a baseball bat.)  My daughter picked out a 'My Little Pony'. 

Then, while we were waiting for something, the boys started whacking each other with the inflatables.  (Of course I had just told them NOT to whack each other, but they couldn't help themselves.)  Another little boy walked by and saw them.  He was holding an inflatable Spiderman.  He didn't know them at all, but suddenly he walked right into the middle of the whacking and joined in.  These three boys were all happily whacking each other while my daughter was sitting on the grass quietly petting her pony.  (She also fed it and put her brother's sweater on it because it was 'cold'.)

We also went to the Demolition Derby.  Again, I thought - boys:  driving falling apart cars around and banging into each other for fun; girls: a Fair 'ambassador' wearing a tiara.

Hmmmmm.  We sure do complement each other!

 

Supercrawl Hamilton 2012 - Hollerado!

I went to Supercrawl for the first time last night.  It's a street festival all about art and music.  A main street was completely closed to cars and there were vendors, open houses, music venues and art galleries everywhere.  It was amazing!

The atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly.  There was a mix of all ages and people.

I saw the Hollerado show.  It was so high-energy and crowd-friendly; I loved it.

I was able to explore all these great spaces in Hamilton that I didn't even know existed.  We were able to tour the beautiful cathedral with intricate woodwork and stained glass windows.  Everything was free.

We ate fabulous samosas, enjoyed a decadent peanut-butter pop (PB covered in chocolate and skor bits), and had a taste of yummy green smoothie.

James Street - you'll see me again soon!

 

Cape Hatteras - Pamlico Sound

We were just in Cape Hatteras, a place I'd never been before.  It's in North Carolina, in the United States.  We stayed in a big house on stilts with another family.  It was amazing!  It's a beautiful place.

Our house was on the Pamlico Sound, but you could walk to the beach.  I was glad we were on the Sound, because it was much calmer and shallow for ages which was great for the kids.

The Sound is great for windsurfing.  Our friends are big windsurfers.  My husband and I tried it and I liked it!  Once you got the sail up and in the right direction (which is harder than it sounds) the wind would take you and it was like a fun ride.

It was great to be by the water and under the big sky.  At night it seemed that we could see thousands of stars.  One night we did a midnight kayak.  You just have to do this to understand.  It's a great experience.

I've never seen so many crabs in my life!  We also went to the beach at night and there were lines of crabs standing there on the beach, staring at us.  Not something you see everyday.

The drive was long to get there - 15 hours.  There was a low point.  There always is, right?  As long as you have good moments to balance out the bad, that's really all you can hope for.

Anyway, one of my sons was whining because I told him to do something other than stare at a screen.  This was a huge problem, apparently.  I launched into a huge speech.  My voice rose.  I exclaimed, "When I was young we didn't even have DS's!  Or DVD players!  We played word games in the car!  We sang songs!  And played hang man!"  I warmed to my theme.  "We didn't have screens in the car and"  - I paused for the grand finale - "LIFE WENT ON!"

I sounded about a million years old.  And that's probably how long it will take before anyone listens to any of my speeches again!