**Update: Being Neighbourly**

Well the "Bobs" surprised me. At 1:30 PM on Saturday they joined me out in front of the house where I was yet again raking. They helped rake, they rolled the dirt, and they started to lay sod with me. Chance woke up then, and I tried to put him in the playpen to watch us work, but he wasn't happy with that situation. So I packed Chance up and left the "Bobs" at it. They worked all afternoon. At 4:30 the rainclouds were gathering and it looked like a storm was iminent, so I strapped Chance into the stroller and wheeled him up to the back yard and pitched in laying the last 200 square feet of sod with the "Bobs".

The job is done, and before Sunday too! Cam is happy with the work. All we have to do is return the sod pallet at Home Depot to get our deposit back, and collect $200 from the "Bobs".

Being Neighbourly

[SCENE: back yard, last Thursday night. The long weekend awaits, and CAM and DANI are sitting in their back yard at their patio set, enjoying one of the last warm evenings of the summer, enjoying a glass of wine and a game of scrabble.]

DANI: It's your turn.

CAM: Oh...uh...OK...P-E-A-T. Peat. 6 points.

{enter "BOB", head pops over back fence}

"BOB": Hey, I saw a flyer advertising cheap sod for sale. It's nearby, over in Chaparral. Maybe this is a good time to remove that rock and put down sod, get it done. We're home all next week so it will be easy to get it all done.

CAM: Can you lay sod in the fall?

"BOB": Well....you can. Besides, the sod is on sale.

[FADE OUT]



Long story short: Cam and I spent all last week shoveling loads of rock onto our driveway. "Bob" said he'd rototill the dirt. "Bob" never got around to it, so we decided to give it a whirl last night. "Bob"'s Tonka toy of a rototiller wouldn't even break the surface. I phoned around the yellowpages trying to find a landscaper with more power (grunt, grunt).

We ended up renting a machine for $45 (Cam picked it up, I dropped it off). Note that "Bob" is not to be found. Cam attempted to till last night with the bigger tiller, but still no luck. We ended up watering the dirt for 3 hours, which resulted in leaving no option except for Cam to take a few hours off work this morning to rototill while I looked after Chance. We stopped by "Bob"'s house last night to let him know that the tilling wasn't going so well and that Cam would have to take time off work to get it done. Never mind that it was supposed to be "Bob"'s job to till.

Then the dirt needed to be raked. "Bob" said he'd do it. Funny, I was the only one out raking the dirt today. Good thing Chance takes naps twice a day. "Bob" and "Bob's wife" were busying away in their house or garage or whatever.

I stopped by to talk to the "Bobs" about getting the sod laid, and they ensured her that it would be fine for 3 days and they would get around to it. After a bit more pressing, they conceded to start on it "first thing" tomorrow morning. Anyone wanna bet that the sod is still on its pallet on Sunday afternoon???

Sweet Home Saskatchewan!

Chance has been enjoying some things from good old Saskatchewan this week. Among his goodies are:

Elk thin fry with beans and biscuits. Daddy cooked this for supper on Monday night!




















Saskatoon pancakes, using the wild frozen saskatoons that were in the freezer. They were tiny little berries, but tasty!

























Chance now has another sweater that was made for him by one of Cam's friends in Regina. This was actually the best picture I got of him in the sweater, he was upset when I stood him up for a better view so the rest of the photos aren't so good!

First Visit to Day Home

Chance will spend his first day at the day home with Mrs. G on September 21. And then again on the following Monday, September 24. Then we are gone on vacation and Mrs. G is closed until I go back to work, so those are the only 2 practice days we're going to do. I called today to make the arrangements and make final checks about what to bring etc. I started crying during this conversation, but I don't think Mrs. G knew, or at least if she did know, she didn't make any fuss about it.

Well my little monkey has been fed his afternoon snack of formula and arrowroot cookies & is currently humming away in his crib, it should be a few minutes before I can sneak into his room to cover him up with a blanket.

Parade of Pyjamas

Chance has been sporting jammies to bed again with the cooler fall weather settling in. Here is a peek at his wardrobe. I put this together at first because Cameron has been going to work before Chance wakes up lately (the little guy has been sleeping in longer in the mornings, FINALLY!).








The jail bird jammies are actually very dark green and white striped, and they have a dinosaur on the front, but we always refer to them as his prison jammies. Too bad he wasn't wearing them when I got this shot of Chance petting Scarlet through the baby gate bars!

Daddy 'n Chance (2)

Bath time with Daddy is so much fun! Especially with the sing-alongs and puppets.




















He dries me off every night to make sure that I don't go to bed with wet hair (no one likes to start their day off with bed-head!).





















I have learned how to cuddle. I like to cuddle with both Mommy and Daddy. But Mommy is shy with the camera, so there are mostly pictures of me cuddling with Daddy.















Mommy bought me a backup blankie. I was given a yellow comfort blankie before I was born by Mommy's friend Laura. I took to liking it so much Mommy got concerned that she might forget it somewhere or wash it and not have it dried before bedtime and then we'd all be hooped. So she bought me a blue one to use while the yellow one is in the wash.

Cous Cous Salad

Cous Cous Salad:

~1.5 cups of leftover cooked couscous*
1 cob of corn, cooked in microwave or roasted on grill, kernels cut off
1/2 red pepper, diced finely
~1/2 cup roasted tomatoes, chopped**
8-10 large stuffed green olives
salt and pepper
~2 tablespoons light italian dressing

* we serve our cous cous with some sauteed zucchini and onion, usually.

** we used up a ton of tomatoes that were nearing their expiry date by roasting them in a glass pan (lined with parchment paper) for 1 hour at 350°F. I tossed them with olive oil and coarse salt and pepper before putting them in the pan. They are very delicious, good in salads like this (or in a green salad), pastas, etc.