Like Mother, Like Daughter

(This morning...whispers at the church piano...)

Me: Remember, if you make a mistake, it's just fine...

The Girl: ...because everybody here loves me.

So, so, so much pride. This morning, The Girl played piano for a non-parent/non-grandparent audience for the first time! She was darling - she's been working on The First Noel for a couple of weeks, and her book includes an accompaniment, so this morning during the offertory I motioned her over and she marched proudly up to the piano and she played it just perfectly.

And it was the perfect venue, too. A first performance should be all about excitement and no fear. I can't think of a better place than with a church filled with smiling faces, all ready to come up to her during refreshment time and tell her what a great job she did.

Funnily enough, I know exactly how she feels. Because I had my "first" performance today, too. Well, first time being the solo pianist for the entire morning. Ever since that fateful day that we got a piano and I started fumbling my way through praise band songs, I've been working up to this. No back-up band, no safe and easy chords, no loosey-goosey praise songs. Just me and the piano and way too many sharps.

Worse was the "Children's Christmas Choice" on the morning's agenda - I worried about that one all week. I knew one of those gremlins would pick It Came Upon a Midnight Clear with its semitone craziness. But, lovely girl that she is, The Girl shouted out Hark the Herald Angels Sing - ha! It's in G! And I rocked it!

(The Husband thinks I planted her. Totally not guilty.)

Was I amazing? No, not really. Did I play every note. Heck no - I tried to play three at a time (sorry tenors) and aimed for a 75 percent accuracy rate.

And was it just fine and did people thank me for playing anyway?

Yup. Because everyone there loves me.

Read more...

I Still Miss the Healthcare, Though...

Okay, before I say this next bit, I feel the need to remind you of a few things:

- I drink from a CBC mug while listening to CBC all day at work
- My spellchecker at work is set to English US for the sole purpose of catching superfluous "U's" in my writing. Whenever possible, I ignore it.
- I snicker obnoxiously whenever someone here complains about the cold and say things like, "do you know how cold it is in Winnipeg right now?"
- Top of my "best trip souvenirs" The Husband has ever brought me was four crullers from the Toronto airport Tim Hortons.

So, is my status as une Canadienne yet firm? Does anyone doubt the ardency with which I continue to totally heart my home and native land?

I hope not, because I'm still going to say it:




American Thanksgiving is better than Canadian Thanksgiving.




(Also: Black Friday kicks more a$$ than Boxing Day.)




[wait for hue and cry to die down]

We attended our first American-style Thanksgiving yesterday. So this year, the whole build-up to the holiday has actually meant something to me. Instead of quizzically raising an eyebrow at coworkers making travel plans and fretting about menus/family turmoil/icy roads, I found myself caught up in the excitement.

And, lo and behold, I think I'm understanding the tizzy. Look at what you get:

- A day where everyone thinks it is so important to be with family, it overshadows Christmas.
- A three-day work week (which essentially equals a Monday + a day where you actually get a bit of work done + a Friday) instead of a tacked-on, after-thought kind of a Monday, after which you get to trudge right back to work while still digesting all them potatoes
- A holiday so big and exciting that you need another day off work to recover. And then you've still got the weekend!

Plus, it seems like this gorgeous, expansive, generous, gracious gateway to the holiday season. In Canada, once it's over, you've got a long 10 windy, wintery weeks with nothing but a little bump at Hallowe'en to keep your spirits up until Christmas finally creeps into view. Here? We're whipped into a frenzy like so many candied yams, and we won't stop until the last Auld Lang Syne dies down.

Helps that we got a super awesome Thanksgiving dinner. We lucked out and got invited by people who have vegetarian kids, so while some attendees ate turkey, The Husband and I gorged ourselves on a puff pastry/seitan/stuffing extravaganza. Plus my first pumpkin pie of the year!

After that we came home and The Husband did the football thing and I did the reading thing while the kids hung out. Today was just free and easy - The Husband did a bit of Black Friday shopping and I administered playdates (The Boy is attending his first sleepover as I type!). And, even though I've got some cleaning to do yet today, I've still got two whole days to myself.

Seriously - it's pretty awesome.

Read more...

Winter Is Definitely Here

Church skip today! And not because we felt like playing Bedside Baptist. Got a call this morning that church was cancelled - apparently we had some pretty nasty freezing rain last night, to the tune of 400 accidents reported already.

So we're playing it safe, and the upside is a few hours to put on a pot of coffee, eat cookies for breakfast (mmm - I made molasses crinkles again yesterday), and catch up on some computer time.

(Heh - The Husband's response to hearing "church is cancelled"? "Aww, and I just put my winter tires on yesterday." He put my winter tires on my car last week for an extra birthday treat, so I suppose in theory with two Canadian drivers behind the wheels of two winter-tired Jettas, we could probably ferry everyone to church....)

At least we know all of the church people have food to eat. Today was supposed to be our harvest potluck. I'm in good shape - we'll definitely enjoy our Sweet and Sour Bean Hot Pot for lunch. Others aren't so lucky; I called the next person on the calling tree to tell her not to head out and she said they now have to figure out what to do with five pounds of potato salad.

(Which to me is pretty much a no-brainer - grab a book and a spoon and you're good to go. But I guess not everyone would consider that a nice individual-sized snack.)

This church skip is just another step on the road to re-acclimating to winter. Last Saturday we got dumped on with about 12 inches in 24 hours. The kids were in their glory:

It was perfect snow - big, wet, heavy flakes, just right to make several forts in the front yard and a snow family in the back. The Husband was on "throw snowballs at us, Dad!" duty, so he trudged out every hour or so to pelt them for a few minutes.

Of course, winter to me equals one thing: it's reading season! Which is different from fall, spring, and summer only in the types of books I choose, I guess. This year, I've drafted some other codex consumers:


I have to say that I love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I haven't actually read them myself, but they've been the perfect transition from picture books to chapter books for The Boy. Plus, they're hilarious - fart jokes and booger jokes and more stinkiness than you can roll your eyes at. He sits there giggling away. They were both so excited when I brought the latest volume home that they read it to each other in two hours flat.

They polished that one off so quickly that we're scrambling for something to fill its place. Fortunately The Boy is quite enamoured with Magic Treehouse right now (and, since "at least he's reading," I'll close my eyes to the sentence fragments and keep my "how do they expect to teach kids to read using improper grammar like that" mutterings to myself), so methinks we'll put those winter tires through their paces and hit the library this afternoon.

Hope the workers were able to get there.

Read more...

The Best Birthday Ever?

Peitricia this day is thirty-four,
(We shan't dispute a year or more:)
However, Peitricia, be not troubled,
Although thy size and years are doubled,
Since first I saw thee at sixteen,
The brightest virgin on the green;
So little is thy form declin'd;
Made up so largely in my mind.

Oh, would it please the gods to split
Thy beauty, size, and years, and wit;
No age could furnish out a pair
Of nymphs so graceful, wise, and fair;
With half the lustre of your eyes,
With half your wit, your years, and size.
And then, before it grew too late,
How should I beg of gentle Fate,
(That either nymph might have her swain,)
To split my worship too in swain.

(Apologies to Stella, for whom this was originally written, and to Jonathan Swift, who worships me less, perhaps, than I him.)

Ahhh, what a good birthday. Birthdays should always be on Saturdays. I slept in (until 7:45, whoop!) and then went for a gorgeous 10-mile run. (Seriously - I can't ever remember a warmer birthday.)

My family took me out for greek food for lunch and we had the best hummus and spinach pie I've had in ages. Then - because they love me sooooo much - they all came on my errands with me, and complained only a teensy-weensy bit about having to be in the grocery store.

Also, there were presents!

My coupons from my sweet boy. After our errands, though, I was informed that I am not actually allowed to cash in the "go grocery shopping" coupon.

Homemade Yu-gi-oh cards - family version. My special ability is "She can't be destroyed in battle. I can summon al 4 family members. For every monster on the field, she gains 1,000 ATK and DEF." Ohhhhh yeah - I've got 9999 attack points and 9999 defense points. Beat that.

Two of my favourite things - coffee and my beloved CBC. Ahhh - I shall be sipping Starbucks as I listen to Bob and Tom and Rich.

Aaaaand...it's more CBC - old school. Doesn't it make you miss Casey and Finnegan?

If that weren't enough, we've got a banquet and a dance: it's Daylight Saving today!!! My favouritest day of the year and it's on my birthday. What are the chances? Pretty much a million to one, I'm sure.

And with that, off to spend an extra hour celebrating. Yay me!

Read more...

It's the Land of the Free, But Sometimes You Have to be Brave to Live Here

When I think about my relationship with America, I feel like a battered wife: Yeah, he knocks me around a lot, but boy, he sure can dance. ~ Sarah Vowell

Gah. I should have stayed in bed today.

First, the Republicans took the House. This is, apparently, a signal to the White House that it has been too slow to act, that government is too big, that too much money is spent to do too little.

I can totally see how things are going to get done now. On the cheap, of course.

[Aside: Yesterday I gave the kids a little "exercise your right to vote" lecture, illustrating it with a hypothetical vote regarding family vacations where everyone had a say but only The Husband and I registered our destination of choice, with the result that we ended up in the middle of nowhere. "But I don't want to have a vacation in the middle of nowhere!" protested The Girl. "Ah," I said, "but if you didn't vote, you don't have the right to complain."

Which means I suppose I don't really have a right to complain here. BUT...my not voting is not my choice. In fact, I'm pretty much my own Tea Party in terms of taxation without representation. So complain I will.]

Second, Minnesota's looking at a recount. Again. Know how long the last one took? 8 months. Know how long it felt? Like a gazillion years. This does not make me happy.

Third, it's annual health insurance enrollment time again. I hate this time of year. It makes me very grouchy. It makes me even grouchier when the benefits presenter looks up at the screen and says, "of course, these items are due to the health care bill that just passed, and who knows what is going to happen to that now, so this might all go away."

[Deep breath]

I have such an ambivalent relationship with America. Most days I love it - Netflix, Target, Chipotle, higher temperatures, interstates, a better Thanksgiving (even if less logistically appropriate - yeah, I said it) - but there are days when she sorely tries my patience.

Like today.

Read more...

In November the Snow Starts to Fly...Piling Up...Ankle High...

So long, October! We sent you out with such a bang, I'm not sure we're quite ready for November yet...

First up was The Boy's final football game. Apparently he's pretty good once he gets out on the field, except that this is his default pose:

(The Husband has to yell, "Pockets!" every three minutes or so.)

Then on Sunday was the Monster Dash. A beautiful morning! A ten mile race! COSTUMES! What's not to love?

I pulled out the ol' eyeliner and construction paper and dolled myself up as une petite chat.

This little cat ran a fan-TAS-tic race (if I am allowed to gloat a bit): 1 hour, 49 minutes. To put it into perspective, I ran 12.5 minute miles in the half marathon a few months ago, and this time I ran 11 minute miles. Yay me!

(A huge thanks to our sponsors - The Husband's parents: Official Childcare of PM Races. They came down to watch the last football game and very kindly ferried us around to various race points and The Boy to his game so that we could both run.

[Aside: We ran the same race, but not together per se. The Husband is blazing fast - so fast, we made sure we had two separate modes of transportation to get home because we knew he'd get to the finish line waaaaaay ahead of me.])

The next day, more costumes (although less racing). We convinced the kids to scrounge our existing costume stockpile this year - also yay!

The Boy went as Anakin Skywalker again. He's pretty handy with a light sabre.

I am not:

Despite only going out for an hour or so, there was a fairly major haul:

Of course, a peanut allergy and some fairly expensive orthodontic equipment (which I am not jeopardizing just so that someone can enjoy his Laffy Taffy) definitely reduced the winnings for one of our brood.

Alas, into every awesome weekend a little rain must fall, and ours came in the form of a dead television. Sharon C, our oh-so-helpful customer service agent suggested we plug it into a different outlet in the wall, after which advice she threw up her hands and said a service call was required.

So, The Husband had to find an alternate football-viewing experience:

Good times, good times....

Read more...