Weekend of good times

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Sherry

This weekend we went to celebrate a friend’s birthday with our usual circle of awesome people. It started after supper and involved a lot of delicious sweet treats which is always a huge hit.

The birthday boy got a new guitar as his main gift so that went really well with the live jam that went on down in the basement a little later in the evening. The last time George played anywhere I really wanted to go but didn’t have a babysitter so I missed it. This made up for it.

(That would be me in the corner filming some of the music action.)

Quite some time ago George started practicing “Purple Rain” at home. I have always loved Prince and naturally that’s one of my favorite songs that he did (#1 favorite being “Darling Nikki” which is less appropriate for gatherings that include young children). Since I hadn’t been able to hear him do it in a public setting I requested (demanded) that they play it at the party. As a result I got video of an excellent acoustic version of the song and naturally I wanted to share it.

It was a great night. A late night, but great nonetheless. Hayley had too many cupcakes and Breanna barely made it up the stairs before passing out from exhaustion but that aside we all had a great time. Everyone’s birthday should involve a bit of live music.

(Full photo set over here)

Creating fun in the snow

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Sherry

As I’ve mentioned once or twice (or 853 times) in the past, I’m not a big fan of winter. I’m not fond of the staggering oppression of the humidity in the dead of summer here in Montreal either, but right now it’s winter that is dragging on. Admittedly the season wasn’t too bad for quite some time. While snow buried areas to the west, the east, and all across the states, we barely had snow at all throughout most of January.

Then it’s like someone woke up and said, “oh right, winter in Montreal!” and threw a ton of snow at us over the past week or so. It still hasn’t been all that bad but it just seemed like it was coming down non-stop for awhile.

It would be easy for me to sit around and grumble about how much I want it all to melt and how fed up I am now of snow, but it doesn’t really do much good in the end. Regardless of how I feel about it, it’s still going to be there and I still need to go out in it. The only way to survive winter with your sanity intact is to try to enjoy it as much as you possibly can.

Last weekend we went out with our friends on a Saturday night to see some fireworks at a Winterfest that we had heard about. It was a bit chilly but not too bad and we enjoyed some pretty sights and hot chocolate.

Just as we were leaving the snow started coming down; while we visited with our friends at their place it turned into a raging blizzard and the roads were pretty nuts when we headed home at midnight. The upside to all the snow was that it provided further opportunities for winter fun.

For instance, once they plowed the parking lots, we were left with several large, high mounds of snow which provided a fun spot for sledding mere steps from our door.

Meanwhile the park is all but hidden under all the snow which doesn’t make for great walking (ah, if only I had snowshoes!) but it was great fun for a bounding Border Collie mix.

As for me, well… in the words of Tara Stiles you can do “yoga anywhere”. Even up on top of a great big mound of snow.

(The heavy winter boots and multiple layers sure do make balancing a whole new challenge though!)

So I’m trying. Still. How long until spring? I want to enjoy some mild weather before I start grumbling about the humidex.

(More photos over here)

Pretty daughters

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Sherry

It took me years to like the way I looked. Growing up I was a teenager with thick glasses, out-of-control hair (thick hair is wonderful but only if you know what to do with it; as a teen I most certainly had no clue how to manage it), zero fashion sense, and worst of all absolutely no self-confidence in the way I looked. Any time I imagined myself in some situation, the first thing I would think is to pretend I was pretty. I pretended to be pretty, I never felt pretty.

My parents told me I was but parents are supposed to do that. Parents aren’t supposed to say, “yes dear, you’re ugly but you have many other charming qualities” so I didn’t buy it when they said that.

Sad as it is to admit, it took something physical to change my perceptions of myself. I wish I could say that I transcended the need to be pretty, a need that is ingrained into not only our society but society around the world; what is deemed attractive depends on culture and history but whether you’re talking about the 18th century or today you’ll always find a woman who wanted to look good. But it was indeed something physical that finally made me like what looked back out of the mirror. It was my first pair of contact lenses at the age of 17.

Over the years I guess that I’ve found a combination of acceptance and approval within myself. I don’t stare in the mirror all day long sighing with joy but I don’t avert my eyes either. It’s a balance. But even at the age of 36, even with a year’s worth of yoga under my belt – where acceptance of who and what and where you are is a strong theme – the word “pretty” still echoes over and over from time to time. It’s amazing how deep a neurosis over physical appearance can run.

I hadn’t planned on writing all of that, I guess it’s like the typing version of vomiting all over the internet (which is a pretty good description of blogging in general). All I really meant to do was share this amazing video that Caitlin from Operation Beautiful posted on Twitter this morning. I don’t put my feminist hat on too often but this video speaks volumes and it brought me to tears. Not only is it important to watch for yourself, if you have daughters or ever might have them then I think you need to see this.

(There is one moment of swearing so you might want to view it first before watching it WITH your daughters.)

Every once in awhile I post something deeply personal and I get ready to cringe in hindsight so I reserve the right to edit this post later if I suddenly get all embarrassed. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the clip.

Getting scientific on a stupidly cold morning

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Sherry

Here’s the thing. I’m Canadian and I have been Canadian my whole life. Not only that, I live in Montreal which is an area of the country known for brutally cold winters and large amounts of snow. I’m used to it in the sense that this is just the way our weather is. Our summers make you melt with the humidity and our winters make you wonder what settlers were thinking when they looked around this stupid frozen tundra and said, “yep, looks like home to me!”

That doesn’t mean I like it. I’ve always said that I live in the wrong place because I’m not a fan of extreme temperatures. I like hot summer days but I don’t like suck-out-your-will-to-live humidity. I don’t mind a little cold and some snow but I don’t like days where your nose freezes shut five seconds after you walk out the door.

The latter is what we’re dealing with today. This morning it was -36C which is the equivalent of -32F for those of you who have not yet embraced the metric system. It doesn’t matter which system you use, it all translates to “bloody fucking cold” in Celsius and Fahrenheit alike. In the short time I was outside today my thighs were so cold that it took a good 20 minutes for them to warm up.

Hydro Quebec was also asking people to please not overuse electricity in order to not over-tax the power grids because obviously no one wants a power failure on a day like this. I laughed when I heard that because yes, it’s important to turn off lights that you aren’t using and maybe wait a bit before running major appliances but convincing people not to jack up the heat isn’t going to happen.

Anyway! The other day I saw this video of a woman up in Yellowknife (that’s in the Northwest Territories in case you were wondering) on a -30C day. She took boiling water and threw it into the air where it instantly turned into steam. I mean INSTANTLY.

I figured if our weather today must be stupidly cold I might as well get some enjoyment out of it. I tried it too, although I didn’t feel like bundling up myself and Breanna to go outside. We ended up just throwing it out the window in the stairwell instead and it totally worked. Luckily George is home so he came with us and held the camera.

Can we fast forward to spring now?

In a nutshell

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Sherry

I knew I hadn’t gotten around to updating for awhile but I hadn’t realized just how long it had been until my sister emailed me to see if I was okay. When your own family member (especially one who has a tendency to skimp on blogging herself, ahem!) notices your unplanned leave of absence you know it’s been awhile. Obviously I can’t catch you up on every single day, nor would you want to know every last detail, but I can update on some of the bigger moments since we flipped the calendar to 2011.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve at home which is nothing new for me. I’m not really into going to parties or bars on that day although I have always said I’d love to do Times Square for the ball drop just once before I die. What was different this year was getting to celebrate with George. The thing with being a musician is that it’s not unusual to be booked for a gig on a night like New Year’s Eve. Luckily for me it didn’t happen this year so for the first time since Hayley was three months old we got to ring in the new year together.

We kept it low-key. We introduced the kids to E.T. and they both loved the movie (Hayley was so enthralled that she brought home a book about him from the library this week!). We also enjoyed some appetizers, most of which were Indian, so I was very happy indeed, and the girls drank ginger ale from champagne glasses while George and I had some red wine. We hung out in the living room until Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve came on. It’s a tradition of mine to watch that and even though Ryan Seacrest has taken over most of the hosting duties I still can’t help but put it on. I had a wee fangirl moment while watching New Kids on the Block, what can I say?

This was also the first year that Breanna managed to stay awake until past midnight. Last year she held on until 11:30 and then passed out cold on the couch. She was very proud to be able to celebrate fully this time.

*******

On January 8th we had another first; we left the girls with the first babysitter they’ve ever had that isn’t related to them. Our friend was celebrating his birthday at a nearby bar so the girls had a sleepover at their friend’s house and her cousin babysat them. He’s a really good kid and they all love him so it worked out well. It was Breanna’s first sleepover ever and she did very well.

At the bar we listened to some live music and had a few drinks, and it was fun. We stayed until a little after 1 am and then finally headed home after the band finished their second set. It was very weird to come home without any kids but I was so tired that I fell asleep five seconds after I hit my pillow.

The next morning we went over to pick up the girls and stayed for breakfast. Breakfast is probably my favorite meal ever, but I’m not a fan of actually making big breakfasts (which is why pancakes are usually supper here). Having someone else do it makes me very happy, which is why it’s awesome that George frequently makes bacon and fixes up egg and cheese “McMuffins” on weekends. At their house I enjoyed a big plate of French toast and bacon and home fries and it was a good way to start an otherwise very lazy day.

*******

The biggest thing that has happened since I’ve been horribly neglectful towards my blog is that on Friday (this past one, the 14th) I had an actual professional photo gig lined up. A friend of mine from the school does marketing for a local restaurant (the food is fabulous, if you live in the area you should check it out) and they needed a photographer to capture some fun moments. They had a lot of nice shots of food but no ambiance photos of people enjoying the food or just having a drink at the bar. That’s where I came in.

Let me tell you something: All work should be as much fun as that night was. I got there at about 6:30 just so I could test the lighting and figure out some good places to set up. The actual shoot started at 7 when my friend got there along with four young girls who were willing to model for me along with any clients who were okay with being photographed (only one table said no, everyone else was happy to pose). I had fully intended to shoot for one hour. At the most I thought I might extend to an hour and a half, wrapping up at 8:30. It was 9:40 when George picked me up. I was having such a blast that we just kept going and going.

I took almost 400 photos and managed to whittle them down to 165 to present to my friend for her perusal. I’ve been asked to keep my photos under wraps until they officially launch their campaign on February 1st so as hard as it is, I’m sitting on my hands (figuratively speaking, otherwise it would be difficult to type!). All I know is I’m very excited because these will be used in campaign on the restaurant’s website, their Facebook page, AskMen.com, and Elle Quebec.

Other than that, the only other news around here is of the less fun variety. Starting on Sunday, Breanna quickly developed a nasty gastro and it has since spread. I am not feeling well at all today (I even canceled going to a Governing Board meeting up at the school which I don’t like to do), and Hayley started coming down with it tonight. I’ve already called the school and left a message to say that she’s not coming in, that way we can all just sleep tomorrow morning. I know exactly what she has, there’s no point in waking her up to see if she can go in.

Hopefully it will pass quickly and we’ll all be feeling 100% by the weekend!

(Photos from New Year’s Eve can be seen here; meanwhile more photos from our night out are here.)

So long 2010, hello 2011!

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Sherry

I can’t believe it’s the last day of 2010 and that as of midnight we’re in a whole new year. Time really does go by faster the older you get I guess. I thought I’d post a random photo from each month.

January 2010 – A little sledding.

February 2010 – I confess to having a bit of a yoga addiction.

March 2010 – An epically delicious meal in Chinatown where four of us ordered so much food the man at the table next to us asked if we were perhaps expecting some more friends to show up (no, we were just very hungry).

April 2010 – I spent some time contemplating the meaning of life while standing on my head (and have never been able to do it successfully ever since). We also bought a minivan and there is no going back.

May 2010 – Thanks to Doctors Without Borders, I spent a morning as a refugee in a camp that was set up in a local park.

June 2010 – I enjoyed an evening out with the PPO ladies at a local restaurant where I ate some of the best food I’ve ever tasted.

July 2010 – Spent a lot of time swimming, both with friends and at the nearby public pool.

August 2010 – Single best thing about August? Heading to Halifax.

September 2010 – It got so stupidly hot in Halifax that I actually willingly leaped into the chilly northern Atlantic Ocean. We also survived Hurricane Earl. Then Hayley turned eight.

October 2010 – We brought sweet little Winnie into the family.

November 2010 – Breanna turned five.

December 2010 – Best Christmas so far.

I usually do resolutions but I’ve found something even better this time around. Thanks to my yoga practice I’ve learned new things and new ways of looking at things. Instead of making a resolution I’m going to do a very yogic thing instead and make an intention.

My intention for 2011 is to find as much joy and happiness as I can each and every day. Not every day of a full year is going to be great; it would be unrealistic to expect that. Some days there will be kids acting up, a stupid argument, a stranger being an asshole to you, or you just might have a really bad cold and feel like crap.

Still, every day can have at least one moment of joy, no matter how small. It might be as obvious as having a fabulous day with good friends. It might be as easy-to-miss as having half an hour of silence to read on the couch. But those moments are all there and my intention is to try to find at least one for each day. I’m not going to commit to writing about them but maybe from time to time I can post something about it. Mostly though, this is something just for myself to create a habit of seeing something good no matter what else is going on. I’m one of those obnoxious hopeless optimists anyway so this should be good for me.

Happy new year to all of you; may 2011 bring you everything you want in life!

The holly and the jolly and all that cheer

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Sherry

Nothing like waiting until five days past Christmas to update about how your Christmas was, right? In my defense I’ve been really busy. And by “busy” I mean I’ve been playing the Wii, lounging on the couch, sledding, and other time sucking joys. You know. Busy!

In summary though, Christmas was wonderful. I think it may have been one of the best ones thus far because not only did Santa bring the kids exactly what they had asked for, George and I managed to give each of them a gift that brought about high pitched screaming of happiness.

As always, our Christmas is never just a one-day event. This year it actually started on Christmas eve because our good friends asked them to come over and join them for dinner. It was so nice and I enjoyed myself so much. It was also helpful because it gave the kids an energy outlet which allowed them to fall asleep somewhat easier at (their later than usual) bedtime.

Christmas eve with friends is awesome:

After the kids opened their traditional Christmas eve pajamas, I shooed them off to bed and once they were sleeping we put all of our presents out under the tree. I headed off to bed in the usual divide and conquer manner. Every year we split up and each of us sleeps in the same room as one of the kids. This year I squashed myself into Hayley’s twin bed. With all 572 of her stuffed animals. And all her bony elbows and knees. That was … not restful.

Then again I never sleep well on Christmas eve. I always jolt awake suspiciously at every sound wondering if one of the kids managed to sneak out to poke around or if the dog somehow magically opened her cage and was ripping paper off of everything. It didn’t help that because of where Hayley’s walls are situated I could hear the neighbors up talking until THREE IN THE MORNING (in that Charlie Brown “mwa mwa mwa mwa mwa” voice that all the adults use) and the water flushing through the pipes whenever someone downstairs used the bathroom. Alas. I did eventually fall asleep.

We ended up not waking up until 8:30 which is pretty nice. I had to laugh when my mom told me that my dad woke her up at 7:30 to open presents!

The kids were very excited on Christmas morning.

Santa brought the walking dogs they wanted!

They also got a game for the Wii (25th anniversary for Super Mario), the Crayola spin-magic glow kit from George’s friend, Breanna got the Dora playhouse, and Hayley got a new stereo. However, the best was saved for last and we’re still a little deaf from the reaction we received when the kids each opened a DSi.

I also got a nice gift from each of them. Hayley got me a soap and cream set with a green tea scent, and Breanna got me a set of fancy bath soaps. Meanwhile, Breanna got George a huge wine goblet and Hayley gave him a cool candle. They were both really happy to go shopping to pick something out for each of us.

Even Winnie got in on the action, opening her own presents.

That wasn’t it though! After that we threw coats on over our pajamas and headed over to see George’s parents, sister, and brother-in-law.

I can’t even remember everything. The kids got some great stuff (including the above joke gift of cereal which cracked them up) – clothes, a projector book set, a candy apple kit, beading set, all kinds of stuff. George and I each got some nice clothes as well and we got a nice new dish set. We left the kids there and came back home to unwind for a bit and to let me take the dog for a good long walk before we headed back over for supper. Supper was DELICIOUS.

We were all quite tired and I think everyone slept well that night. Which was good because Christmas was NOT over. On the 26th we were up at a decent hour so we could drive out to see my parents to enjoy the holiday with them too.

Again I know I’ll forget something but George and I got a few clothing items (and I got the world’s most ridiculously comfortable bathrobe, I LOVE it) and a mini food processor. The kids got some Pillow Buddies, a wolf dressed like Michael Jackson who sings and dances to “Thriller” (that would be for Hayley), and some other toys. My sister and my brother-in-law chose some neat gifts; Hayley got a make-your-own fairy tale kit, Breanna got a decorate-your-own dog purse with a little stuffed puppy, and they gave us a gift card for a restaurant to have a night out. Very cool!

In the end, by the time all three days were over, I sort of felt like this:

Especially since my living room looked pretty much like this until I got it all cleaned up yesterday:

But it was a really, REALLY good Christmas and I’m so very happy and grateful.

(The full photo set is over here)

Not keeping up very well

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Sherry

So apparently this year I’m sucking at the Holidailies thing. I just haven’t felt like updating. I’ve been too busy with other things during the day and then by evening I’m kind of tired and brain-dead.

On the other hand I can’t quite think of anything in particular that I did that would keep me from sitting down and typing up a quick update. Ah well.

Anyway, I haven’t dumped or edited any photos in a couple of days either so I don’t have anything pretty to share. I do have one brief story I don’t want to forget though.

On Tuesday I took Breanna up to the school with me and handled the PPO used toys sale from 8 am until 11:30. Breanna came with me last year and had fun; this year was even better. She sorted money into the cash box, I’d tell her what to give back as change, and she helped bag up purchases if someone had bought a bunch of small stuff.

The entire sale went well in general and I do love watching kids shop. It’s interesting to see what they’ll be attracted to and it’s fun to listen to them excitedly chatter over their finds.

However, there was one little boy in particular – probably grade two – who was so sweet that I just wanted to fold him up and put him in my pocket. He had bought a handful of very stereotypically boy things. He was carrying around a couple of Transformers, a Spiderman figure, and a dinosaur. He seemed pretty thrilled with his haul. He had 50 cents left and wanted to know what he could get with it. I showed him the 25 cent table and said he could get two things there or that he could get one thing from the 50 cent table next to it.

A few minutes later he hopped up to me and joyfully held up something very different from his other things. It was a little black purse, about the size that Paris Hilton uses to cart around her little dogs. On one side it had a pink silhouette of a girl and on the other side it had a pink French poodle. The entire thing was covered in sparkles.

He excitedly told me that he had picked it up at the 50 cent table and that was what he wanted. I smiled and said okay and took him two quarters. Then he grinned and bounced a little on the balls of his feet and whispered, “it’s for my mom, she likes pretty purses and this one is REALLY pretty.”

Well. I was in the throes of PMS so it took everything I had in me not to just CRY. Instead I patted him on the shoulder, told him the purse was absolutely beautiful, and sent him off to catch up to his class who had left already.

It was the sweetest thing that I saw all day and I love that a little boy would buy something like that for his mother. If it was me, I would carry that purse EVERYWHERE just because of the thought.

Sometimes my faith in the world is restored by the simplest things.

A day outdoors in the crazy weather

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Sherry

The weather was a little bi-polar up here today. This morning it was snowing and it was actually the kind of snow that I like, with the big, fat flakes that float down slowly. It was also quite warm out. We had planned our Advent activity today to be sledding but I wasn’t sure how that would work out since they were calling for at least two hours of freezing rain in the afternoon. In the end George said we should go anyway so we set it up with our friends to meet at a nearby park and after a tasty brunch (George fried up some bacon then made us egg and cheese “McMuffins”, yummy) we were suited up in our snow suits and in the van.

I’m so glad we went. When we got there it was overcast but nothing more than that and the temperatures were still holding at reasonable levels. We were there for an hour and a half and in that time we also saw some mixed precipitation (that’s a mix of snow and rain for those of you who aren’t well-versed in Canadian winters), followed by ice pellets (a little painful on the face while zipping down a hill on a saucer but bearable), then just overcast skies again. Right as we were leaving there was a light pattering of rain and then that cleared up before we even got home.

Despite the weird transitional weather we had so much fun. The ice pellets lasted all of 15 minutes so I’m glad we didn’t change our plans based on the forecast. This is the second time in a row that a forecast has been wildly wrong. Last week they said to expect about 5 centimeters of snow and we got over 30. This week they warned of a 25 centimeter storm, then changed to a bit of snow and the freezing rain, and we ended up with little to worry about. Silly meteorologists!

I love sledding and other than a few minutes of break time here and there I pretty much spent the whole time going up and down the hill. We were four adults and four kids, plus we spent some time swapping sleds with another dad and his two sons, so it was pretty much a blast. Definitely a great Advent idea!

Full set over here.

Catching Up

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Sherry

Even though I’ve only missed one day since Holidailies started I feel like I’m so far behind on keeping up to date on stuff. I don’t want to let my advent activities slip away without remembering them so I’ll just fill you in on that.

On day 7 the activity was one that sounds strange at first: Putting shoes by the door. Although we’re not German, many years ago I “met” a lot of moms on a big forum that no longer exists, and we all picked up different things from each other. A friend of mine whose family is German told us all about Saint Nicholas Day where children lay their shoes by the door and in the morning they find some small goodies in them. Now in all honesty we were late – the day is actually the 5th but we were lucky because the elves left the kids some very nice things. They woke up in the morning to find hair accessories, notebooks (a hot commodity around here!), and of course a bit of candy.

Day 8 was one of those days where I was trying very hard to embrace winter since we have a lot of it left, so I planned for our activity to be good for a little post-sledding. That was fun and went well. When we came in, the advent revealed that we would have big steaming mugs of hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows.

Day 9 kind of slipped by quickly so I made the activity a quiet one, reading some Christmas books in bed which was nice. Alas, I have no pictures since I was busy reading.

Today was day 10 and I decided it was a good time for something very straightforward and simple. On the one hand it’s Friday so we can hopefully sleep in at least a little bit tomorrow but on the other hand it’s also the end of the week and we were all tired. I ended up choosing to put on a Christmas special in the evening and we all watched it before getting the kids to bed. I tossed in one of my favorites, the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and it never loses its charm.

We should have some good advent stuff this weekend if everything goes well.

*******

I ended up enjoying myself so much as I watched Winnie run free at the park that I did it again yesterday and today. I made sure to bring my cameras with me and I got some pictures and video. I was pretty nervous doing it all by myself but she did great. The fact that I brought cheese encouraged her to come back when I called too.

I even got video showing her mad running skillz.

Today was even better. We were alone again and running, playing, and throwing sticks when all of a sudden I saw her dog friend from the other day coming out of the woods. Winnie didn’t notice at first since I was busy holding a stick but when she turned and saw the Mastiff her body tensed up in that “oh my GOD!” kind of joyful way, then she pretty much hurled herself across the park; I’m not entirely convinced that her feet touched the ground.

Even though Ginger the Mastiff was already tired from a long walk in the woods with her owner, they both played for awhile and spent some time lazing about in the snow.

It’s been fabulous seeing how easy it is to wear her out with just a nice walk, a wild romp, a lot of snow, and a walk back home. Between that and the fact that it’s almost 11 pm and Winnie’s not a night owl, she’s passed out directly behind my chair and I think she might actually be snoring.

Which is my cue to go chill out a bit and then think about bed!

Chaos Theory

Author Archives: Sherry

Weekend of good times

Creating fun in the snow

Pretty daughters

Getting scientific on a stupidly cold morning

In a nutshell

So long 2010, hello 2011!

The holly and the jolly and all that cheer

Not keeping up very well

A day outdoors in the crazy weather

Catching Up