Afterwards we went out to the park and the kids had so much fun splashing in the puddles. Ayla was very good at pointing out the "doggie poop" and Chance was equally good in rushing over and stepping in it.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Cartoons
We had Ayla over on Saturday morning while her daddy helped Cam put on baseboards downstairs. The kids played great together. After lunch they cuddled on the couch and watched cartoons while I did the dishes. I don't think a bomb would have disturbed them!
Afterwards we went out to the park and the kids had so much fun splashing in the puddles. Ayla was very good at pointing out the "doggie poop" and Chance was equally good in rushing over and stepping in it.
Afterwards we went out to the park and the kids had so much fun splashing in the puddles. Ayla was very good at pointing out the "doggie poop" and Chance was equally good in rushing over and stepping in it.
March Snow and Mr. Cranky Pants
Woke up this morning to a ton of snow and a freezing house. Our furnace, AKA Mr. Cranky Pants, strikes again! For some reason every time the weather changes significanty (FYI, it does that often in Calgary!!), Mr. Cranky Pants simply shuts down. We blamed it on our fancy-dancy programmable thermostat that was going to save us sooooo much money by turning the heat down while we were gone to work. Finally we tore it out this year and were surprised to see that the heating bills have gone down significantly. Our usage is down by HALF. Now, I should point out that our electricity bill is way UP. This is due to the electric heaters that are down in the basement....but it seems that they generate enough heat that it keeps most of the house much warmer and in turn the furnace kicks in less. We thought that this would make Mr. Cranky Pants much happier about his job and we'd be faced with less shut downs. For the most part, we were right....but today I guess was just too much for the old guy. Anyways Mr. Cranky Pants breaks down often enough that I can go through the process of fixing him in my sleep. I don't even need any tools any more. I just keep the furnace grating slightly loose, hey look ma, no ratchet set!
Chance woke up early this AM but still wanted to sleep so he went back to bed and I got the furnace re-lit, it's starting to warm up in the house now. Good thing for fuzzy housecoats and kitties happy to sit on your lap!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
March Catch-Up
Well March has been a real whirl-wind for us. I think we've all been sick at least once, some more often than others, just minor colds and coughs, nothing to worry about. We have been doing basement renovations and are nearly done, just a few more weekends.
Chance is potty training and frequently gets at least 1 gummy bear for doing the deed in the potty each day, sometimes he gets 2. He is asking to use the potty more and more often, but it is too late usually by the time we get there his diaper is full. We have switched him to cloth diapers to help him "get" the difference between wet and dry. For the most part he doesn't really care. Pull ups, Pampers, cloth diapers.....I don't think he gives a rip. Other than with the cloth diapers, he is "going" less frequently, so we only change him maybe 4x per day, usually one dirty and the others are wet. Before he might have 2 dirty diapers per day and 4 pees.
Cam and I enjoyed a nice dinner at home last weekend. I recreated a salad that I had for lunch a few weeks ago while out at a CSPG lunch talk -- feta and peach and sprout salad, I know, it sounds weird but it is really good. We also had pesto rice with a mediterranean crusted salmon. While I was fixing supper, I asked Cam to go pick out a bottle of wine from downstairs. We have taken to locking the wine cabinet as Chance has started taking an interest in it and rather than have him open the doors and maybe break a bottle of wine/fall down the stairs while trying to carry it up/pull the whole thing down on himself (boy, I am a worrier), we just opted to put a lock on the door. We put it on the ledge just next to the wine cabinet. Did I mention we've been painting?? And the basement is in shambles......do you think we could find that key??? NOPE! So here is a picture of Cam trying to cut through the lock with a hack saw. It didn't work. We ended up slurping down the last dregs of a bottle of wine that was in the back of the fridge. Not exactly your ideal wine pairing, but hey, it was a nice dinner at home. Cam bought a combination lock at Canadian Tire last weekend, along with a set of bolt cutters.
Here is Chance's foot, much improved. I think it was eczema caused by friction in his boots, hence the little pin-points. We used a cream called Protopic on it and it turned into a big blotchy-red/purple area, which we gradually worked down using hydrocortisone cream. In other foot news, tonight Chance sort of co-operated when it came to cutting his toenails. Sort of. As in, I was cutting my own toenails, and he ripped his socks off and thrust his feet at me. Then when I tried cutting his toenails he screeched and kicked and howled, same old Chance.
Chance is potty training and frequently gets at least 1 gummy bear for doing the deed in the potty each day, sometimes he gets 2. He is asking to use the potty more and more often, but it is too late usually by the time we get there his diaper is full. We have switched him to cloth diapers to help him "get" the difference between wet and dry. For the most part he doesn't really care. Pull ups, Pampers, cloth diapers.....I don't think he gives a rip. Other than with the cloth diapers, he is "going" less frequently, so we only change him maybe 4x per day, usually one dirty and the others are wet. Before he might have 2 dirty diapers per day and 4 pees.
Cam and I enjoyed a nice dinner at home last weekend. I recreated a salad that I had for lunch a few weeks ago while out at a CSPG lunch talk -- feta and peach and sprout salad, I know, it sounds weird but it is really good. We also had pesto rice with a mediterranean crusted salmon. While I was fixing supper, I asked Cam to go pick out a bottle of wine from downstairs. We have taken to locking the wine cabinet as Chance has started taking an interest in it and rather than have him open the doors and maybe break a bottle of wine/fall down the stairs while trying to carry it up/pull the whole thing down on himself (boy, I am a worrier), we just opted to put a lock on the door. We put it on the ledge just next to the wine cabinet. Did I mention we've been painting?? And the basement is in shambles......do you think we could find that key??? NOPE! So here is a picture of Cam trying to cut through the lock with a hack saw. It didn't work. We ended up slurping down the last dregs of a bottle of wine that was in the back of the fridge. Not exactly your ideal wine pairing, but hey, it was a nice dinner at home. Cam bought a combination lock at Canadian Tire last weekend, along with a set of bolt cutters.
Here is Chance's foot, much improved. I think it was eczema caused by friction in his boots, hence the little pin-points. We used a cream called Protopic on it and it turned into a big blotchy-red/purple area, which we gradually worked down using hydrocortisone cream. In other foot news, tonight Chance sort of co-operated when it came to cutting his toenails. Sort of. As in, I was cutting my own toenails, and he ripped his socks off and thrust his feet at me. Then when I tried cutting his toenails he screeched and kicked and howled, same old Chance.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
1 month later....
Can't believe how much time has gone by. There are updates coming, but right now am busy drilling away & renovating the basement. Later, I promise!!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Name that rash!!
This showed up on Chance's foot mabye 3 weeks ago. Started out as pin-prick like rash maybe 20-30 spots and has morphed out to this blobby thing. Doctor said it didn't look contagious, and it really hasn't spread out that much either, but a small patch of it has cropped up on his bum cheek. Ranges in colour daily from barely pink to deep purple. Cortisone cream (ratio-ectosone/betamethasone nor emo-cortisone) doesn't cut it and neither does the other stuff we got, Protopic (tacrolimus ointment). Chance says it "hurts" every now and then and I see him rubbing/scratching it occasionally, but it doesn't seem to be crazy itchy. Will go see the doctor again Feb. 18th.
I am almost considering putting Windex on it (My Big Fat Greek Wedding)!
I am almost considering putting Windex on it (My Big Fat Greek Wedding)!
Yum!
Have been on kick of baking lately, kinda.
Have made so far:
Muffins: Orange date bran, peanut butter bran.
Loaves: Cream-cheese nut bread, cranberry-apricot.
Bread: Whole wheat traditional (kneaded), buns, and no-knead whole wheat-sesame-oat.
Cupcakes: footballs for Superbowl.
That's all I can think of so far. Oh, also I made a fantastic sweet potato curry soup (pureed leftover roasted sweet potatoes and mixed with chicken stock, sauteed onions and curry paste) and some "leftover soup" - used up some ground beef that had used for tacos and also red pepper chili sauce that was leftover from a pork chop dish I made, mixed with canned tomatoes and sauteed onions, celery, carrots. Oooh, also I had fantastic cranberry-chili meatballs this week.
I think I love food too much.
The first 2 pictures are of Chance eating breakfast under the table. He's gotten really difficult in the mornings and for a while we tried just going with the flow but we were inching back every morning by a few minutes -- he just kept toeing the line on everything, from pamper changing to getting dressed to eating breakfast to getting coat on, etc. This AM we laid the law down, he had a time out in his chair for kicking me while getting his pamper changed and then he ate breakfast, etc. relatively well. We got out of the house 7 minutes faster than we have all week. Hm.
Have made so far:
Muffins: Orange date bran, peanut butter bran.
Loaves: Cream-cheese nut bread, cranberry-apricot.
Bread: Whole wheat traditional (kneaded), buns, and no-knead whole wheat-sesame-oat.
Cupcakes: footballs for Superbowl.
That's all I can think of so far. Oh, also I made a fantastic sweet potato curry soup (pureed leftover roasted sweet potatoes and mixed with chicken stock, sauteed onions and curry paste) and some "leftover soup" - used up some ground beef that had used for tacos and also red pepper chili sauce that was leftover from a pork chop dish I made, mixed with canned tomatoes and sauteed onions, celery, carrots. Oooh, also I had fantastic cranberry-chili meatballs this week.
I think I love food too much.
The first 2 pictures are of Chance eating breakfast under the table. He's gotten really difficult in the mornings and for a while we tried just going with the flow but we were inching back every morning by a few minutes -- he just kept toeing the line on everything, from pamper changing to getting dressed to eating breakfast to getting coat on, etc. This AM we laid the law down, he had a time out in his chair for kicking me while getting his pamper changed and then he ate breakfast, etc. relatively well. We got out of the house 7 minutes faster than we have all week. Hm.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Interesting Article
A facebook friend linked to this article...
Today at work I made an executive decision to go down to the 20th floor (reception) and read a paper and sipped a cup of coffee while I waited for 2 sets of business partners to show up for a meeting. It was amazing what that 5 minutes to myself felt like. Later this evening I realized I had forgotten to phone a friend back who had called me earlier in the day and immediately felt guilty, but not really sorry for taking that 5 minutes for myself.
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